


Discretion

by Xylianna



Series: The Better Part of Valor [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: 5+1 Things, Anal Sex, BDSM, Biting, Body Worship, Car Sex, Consent is Sexy, D/s, Dirty Talk, Dom!Gladio, Drunk Chocobros, Food Kink, Knife Play, M/M, Oral Sex, Rimming, Secret Relationship, Shower Sex, Sneaking Around, Sub!Ignis, bottom!gladio, eventual promptis, oblivious Prompto is oblivious, oh Prompto my sweet summer child, romantic sex, service top!ignis, service topping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-17 20:45:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13085040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xylianna/pseuds/Xylianna
Summary: Five times Ignis and Gladio thought they were discreet, and one time Noctis and Prompto were definitelynot.





	1. Want some?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is brought to you by my inability to be mature when Gladio says "Want some?" during combat sequences in game.
> 
> I have no beta. All my mistakes are my own.
> 
> Do you want to be my beta? That would be neat. :D

Waking up from a good night’s sleep was supposed to be pleasant. You were supposed to have those hazy moments when you hung in between the waking world and dreaming, when you weren’t quite certain what was real and what was a fabrication of your sleeping mind.

Ignis desperately wished the intensely hard erection he was sporting upon waking that particular morning was such a fabrication.

Moreso, he wished he was simply dreaming that he was curled against Gladio’s back, his cock pressed firmly against the larger man’s ass.

Alas, it seemed the Six had a twisted sense of humor, as such wishes were not to be granted.

Ignis did his best to move away from Gladio as inconspicuously as possible, praying to every Astral - even the outcast Infernian - that the Shield would stay blessedly, peacefully asleep.

“Mornin’, Iggy.” A bass rumble, filled with knowing amusement.

The strategist felt his cheeks heat with an incriminating blush. “Good morning, Gladio,” he returned the greeting cautiously, as he put on his glasses. He definitely wanted sharp sight. Ignis sat there in the tent, still dark in the pre-dawn hours, the only audible sound the snores of their other two companions.

When Gladio rolled over, giving Ignis a spectacular view of his naked, well-muscled chest, the man’s sun-bronzed face was cast in a smirk, amber eyes lazy and half-lidded, tongue sliding over his lower lip leisurely as he regarded Ignis. 

Gladio opened his mouth to speak, but Ignis surged to his feet in the awkward half-stooped posture they had to assume inside the tent, taking care to angle his legs and arms in such a way as to hopefully mask the way his cock was tenting his pajama pants.

“I’d best start breakfast,” Ignis said briskly in Gladio’s general direction before he left the tent and set to doing just that.

Astrals, he knew this road trip would be challenging - knew he’d made it harder on himself by insisting that he and Gladio maintain what he had called an ‘appropriate distance’ around the younger men - but knowing something on a logical level was far different than actually living through it.

Ignis loved Gladiolus with all his heart, and he was beyond joyful in the knowledge that his love was fully reciprocated. But with their duties, the lives they led, their love was kept behind closed doors. Easier to do back in Insomnia where they had doors to close.

Sharing a blasted tent with two other men afforded none of them any privacy. Ignis had already had the misfortune of walking in on each of the younger men masturbating - Prompto had been horrified and embarrassed, Noctis rather nonchalant, if mildly irritated at the interruption - and all four of them had long since grown tired of the lack of personal space. Not to mention, a tent full of four men’s morning breath? Not pretty. Four men who’d had no chance to bathe after days of hiking and combat? Downright ugly.

Ignis had a fire started in short order, and started cooking up some simple skewers. He made sure the veggie chunks on a couple were cut smaller than the rest - perhaps His Highness would eat them if they were mostly hidden between large chunks of meat. The meal preparation was simple, not requiring much of his attention, so he watched the sun rise in silence for a while, until he heard the sound of a zipper announcing another man was leaving the tent. Mentally squaring his shoulders (his actual posture was already exemplary, thank you very much), Ignis slanted a look toward the tent, and just barely suppressed a sigh.

Of course it was Gladio walking towards him with a shit-eating grin on his face and a bounce in his step.

Ignis wasn’t sure whether to be irritated the man hadn’t thrown on a shirt, or just enjoy the view.

He decided the options weren’t mutually exclusive, and crossly eyed the half-naked man walking towards him.

“Smells good,” Gladio said amiably as he plopped down in one of the camp chairs. 

“I hope the taste is as pleasant as the aroma.”

Gladio chuckled. “Can you actually cook bad food, Iggy?”

The banter began to help Ignis’s earlier embarrassment fade, and he smirked over at his lover in good humor. “I do enjoy a challenge.”

Raising his hands in mock-defense, Gladio was quick to demur, “Don’t try. Please.”

Ignis laughed softly, and turned over the skewers, noting they were almost done.

“Gooooood morning!” Prompto chirped happily as he burst out of the tent in a riotous blur of messy blonde hair and exuberant hand gestures. “Man, it’s great out today! Ooh, that smells ah-MAZE-ing, Igs!” The bubbly blonde clapped a friendly hand on Ignis’s shoulder as he passed, gave Gladio a playful noogie, and then half fell into one of the empty chairs around the fire.

Ignis couldn’t help but smile at the younger man’s sheer zest for life. While he may have had his doubts about Prompto when Noctis had initially befriended him, they were long gone. The endlessly-cheerful man was an undeniably good influence on Noct.

And speaking of Noct…

Ignis pushed to his feet. “I’d better wake His Highness. Gladio, keep an eye on the food, would you?”

“You got it,” Gladio agreed.

“Good lu-uck!” Prompto sing-songed.

Climbing back into the tent, Ignis didn’t bother to quell the deep sigh that arose seeing Noctis Lucis Caelum, Prince of Lucis, burritoed so tightly in his blankets it was a wonder he could breathe. 

Ignis tapped Noctis on the shoulder. “Highness. Good morning.”

Noct mumbled something unintelligible and batted his head ineffectually in Ignis’s general direction.

This time, Ignis grabbed Noct’s shoulder, squeezing it firmly. “ _Noct_.”

“G’way, Ig,” Noctis muttered, burrowing deeper into his blankets.

Ignis briefly debated setting those blankets afire. But, that wouldn’t be a prudent use of their magic stores. Instead, he settled for grabbing a free edge and yanking as hard as he could, the comical - yet successful - result being to spill Noctis out of his cocoon and onto the tent floor.

“What’d you do that for? Ugh,” Noctis complained. “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Very good, Highness. Breakfast is ready. If you go back to bed, I can’t guarantee Gladio won’t eat your share.” With that, he walked back out and began serving food to those who were ready.

Noctis appeared in short order, and much to Ignis’s dismay - thought he wasn’t surprised - the Prince unerringly ate around even the tiniest piece of vegetable. Oh, well. Perhaps the juice from the veggies soaked into the meat, and he’d get some of the nutrients that way? One could hope.

Then, it was time for the group to break camp. More accurately, it was time for Gladio and Ignis to break camp, while Prompto and Noct huddled over their phones, engrossed in King’s Knight.

“Hey, Iggy, grab my pole,” Gladio drawled, holding out a tent-pole.

Ignis was not impressed by his partner’s suggestive leer. Wordlessly, he took the proffered piece of hardware, packing it into the case with the others. Thankfully, they got the rest of the gear loaded with no further wisecracks. Ignis was in no mood.

His erection may have subsided, but Six preserve him, he couldn’t get his thoughts out of the proverbial gutter.

And Gladio wasn’t helping one bit.

Damn the man. He knew _precisely_ what he was doing.

While Ignis drove them across Cleigne to their next hunt, every time he looked in the rear view mirror, he’d see Gladio’s golden gaze latched on the back of his head, the man’s kissably-full lips curled in a knowing smirk.

Ignis tried to join in with Noctis and Prompto’s conversation, but each time Gladio added a comment in that low, lazy purr of his from behind his book, Ignis’s thoughts devolved into a desperate longing to hear that same tone shaping the sound of his name, moaned out in ecstasy.

At last they joined the hunt, and even during battle, Ignis wasn’t safe. It was a simple enough fight against a pack of saberclaws, not one requiring his undivided attention, though he was certain to keep a careful eye on Noct in case the Prince should need his aide.

Rather than His Highness, it was the Shield that Ignis found himself teamed up with, fighting back to back as they made short work of the enemy.

When Gladio shouted out his familiar taunt, “ _Want some_?!” Ignis could swear he saw the large man wink at him. In the middle of battle, for Astrals’ sake!

Moments later, the Shield roared, “Try this!” as he spun his greatsword in a graceful arc, decapitating one of the monsters with ease, his hips continuing his body’s rotation in an incredibly unsubtle thrusting motion.

Ignis chided himself internally. No, he _ranted_ at himself internally. Easy fight or not, he had no cause to be so distracted from his duty. He would never admit how difficult it was to tear his eyes away from Gladio and refocus on Noct. But he was mollified slightly that Gladio made no further efforts to tease him, and in short order the battle was concluded successfully.

“Yeah!” Prompto cheered, jumping and pumping a fist in the air. “Dun-nuh-nuh-nuh, nuh, nuh, nah-nuh-nahhhh!” he sang a silly little victory ditty.

“I’m wiped,” Noctis dismissed his weapon to the Armiger and sighed. “Are we done for the day?”

“Quite,” Ignis replied. “This was our only hunt today. Come, let’s collect the bounty, shall we?” He smiled as if he was about to offer them something rare and wonderful - and indeed he was. “I think with the funds earned, we can spend the night at the Leville.”

“A real bed? A bath? Woohoo!!” Prompto yelled.

Ignis found his gaze drawn to Gladio, and was unsurprised to see the man staring at him with heat in his eyes.

He coughed and looked away, entreating them all to pile in the car so they could head in to Lestallum.

While he was driving, only half listening to the other mens’ chatter, Ignis realized he didn’t have it in him to feel remotely ashamed of how selfish he was being. Because yes, booking a hotel on their limited funds might seem an altruistic gesture towards the Prince, towards Prompto, letting the boys have beds and junk food and video games. But really, Ignis was thinking of himself.

Was thinking of Gladiolus.

He could stretch their coin enough to secure two rooms and have money to spare. And since Noct and Prompto would certainly insist on bunking together…

Ignis cleared his throat, willing the flush that crept up his neck to fade before anyone noticed his discomfiture. He made a marked effort to refocus on the boisterous conversation filling the Regalia.

“So we load up on pizza, chips, soda, and settle in for a freakin’ _tournament_!” Prompto was exclaiming, half hanging over the back of the passenger seat to gesticulate at Noctis. 

“Sure,” Noct said agreeably enough, waving a hand lazily. “I’ll catch a nap while you shop.”

Gladio snorted. “Just don’t stay up so late that you’re useless tomorrow, Prince Charmless. And that goes for you too, Prompto.”

The aforementioned young men rolled their eyes in unison before exchanging a put-upon look that all but shouted their intentions to stay up gaming until the crack of dawn.

Ignis couldn’t help it. He smiled to himself in a manner he was certain blurred the line between twitterpated and anticipatory. He didn’t even try and convince himself it was for any reason other than knowing not only would the boys be busy all evening, they’d sleep away half the day tomorrow, giving him more than ample time to spend with Gladio before they set out on their next hunt.

He was startled out of his brief reverie by Prompto shaking his shoulder, eliciting a sharp look from the advisor. “Prompto, please do not manhandle me while I’m driving. You could get us all killed.”

“Nahh, you’re way too good to ever lose control of the wheel,” Prompto argued cheerfully, going so far as to cheekily mess up Ignis’s hair before settling back more properly into his seat.

“Yeah, Ignis,” Gladio chuckled from the backseat. “You never lose control, right?” His voice was just a touch too innocent, which was how Ignis knew the Shield’s subtext was anything but.

“As much as I appreciate the votes of confidence,” Ignis retorted in a clipped tone. “Kindly keep your hands to yourself.” He cleared his throat. “Now, Prompto, I presume you were trying to get my attention for a reason?”

“Yeah, I had asked if I could go to the market with you when we get to Lestallum, but you didn’t answer!”

“Apologies,” Ignis said. “I was lost in thought. You’re certainly welcome to accompany me. Be warned, it could take a while. I intend to do a full inventory of all the marketplace has to offer, replenish our curatives and food supplies…” he blathered on about more shopping minutiae than anyone should be able to come up with. Ignis fancied he could _hear_ Prompto’s eyes glaze over not even halfway through his recitation.

“Uh… on second thought, I think I can grab our snacks on my own,” Prompto broke in to Ignis’s monologue about the different types of cleaning agents hastily. “Unless you really needed the help?”

“Quite all right, Prompto,” Ignis demurred smoothly. “You and Noctis should enjoy your evening. I’m uncertain when we’ll have the luxury of a hotel again.”

The remainder of the drive passed without incident, and soon Ignis was pulling into a parking spot. Noctis and Prompto were off and running - well, in Prompto’s case, at least - practically before he had the key out of the ignition.

“So,” Gladio captured Ignis’s gaze with his own, eyes of molten amber gleaming with a myriad of emotions - amusement, love, nerves, lust. “Did you really mean all that about the shopping extravaganza?”

Ignis adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and let out an impatient sigh. “Of course not. I simply didn’t want Prompto’s company.”

“Really,” Gladio drawled, slamming his door shut and walking around the car towards Ignis, his gait liquid, almost predatory. “Who’s company _did_ you want?” He latched on to Ignis’s phrasing with perhaps too much clarity.

It didn’t surprise Ignis, though. No one knew him better than Gladio.

Before Ignis could verbalize an answer, Gladio was there, reaching out and grabbing him by the biceps, yanking him against his heavily muscled form. The Shield maintained unbroken eye contact with the Royal Advisor, and the indecision present in his gaze moments earlier had faded. His eyes held nothing but longing now, stark and honest, even as his mouth curved in a teasing smirk. 

“G-Gladio…” Ignis stammered. He had to tilt back his head to continue to meet Gladio’s eyes. When they stood this close, the height difference was quite apparent.

And he _liked_ it. It made something basic and primal inside him purr in recognition. Gladio was a massive behemoth of a man, and while he was charged with protecting the Prince, he took it upon himself to guard the entire group. He stood half a foot taller than Ignis, and outweighed him by at least fifty pounds of pure muscle. 

Ignis felt Gladio’s fingertips dig in to his arms hard enough he’d certainly have bruises the next day, and he knew he wasn’t going anywhere until the Shield chose to relinquish his hold.

Oh, _yes_. He liked it quite a bit.

“Asked you a question,” Gladio growled, leaning down to nip at Ignis’s ear.

“Yours,” Ignis blurted out quite inelegantly. He flushed, realizing how flustered he must sound, and tried to regain some equilibrium. “If you’d let go of me, we could go check in. Noctis is certainly not going to be pleased at having to wait for that nap.”

Gladio scoffed loudly. “Princess can wait,” he muttered, nuzzling along Ignis’s neck, his beard scratching against the sensitive skin deliciously. “I can’t.”

“O-oh.” Ignis’s hands rose to grasp Gladio’s hips for balance, even as he canted his own against the larger man, a moan slipping past his rapidly deteriorating self control as he ground himself again the other man’s hard-on. 

“C’mon,” Gladio said. After pressing a brief, fiery kiss to Ignis’s lips, Gladio took his hand and half-led/half-dragged him towards the Lestallum city limits. He kept walking until they had left the City, heading southward. As the sun began to set, they stumbled into a haven, and fell upon each other like a pair of starving men.

Not an entirely inapt comparison, Ignis mused as Gladio almost tore his own shirt in an attempt to remove it quickly. They hadn’t gone this long without sharing physical intimacy… well, _ever_ , really, once their relationship had reached that level. Ignis began removing his own clothing a bit more calmly than Gladio, who now appeared to be fighting with his pants. 

Once they were both naked, the men took a long moment to just look at each other. While catching sight of one another changing at camp wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, it wasn’t as if they could just stop and stare. Noctis and Prompto might be a bit naive about romance, but surely they’d notice if Ignis decided to ogle Gladio when he was dressing.

As one, they came together in a clash of lips and tongues and teeth, their kisses hungry and demanding, mouths warring for dominance as they surged against each other, hands sliding over sweat-slicked skin almost frantically.

“Was gonna make you wait,” Gladio pulled back to murmur, resting cheek-to-cheek with Ignis. “You’re the one who said we had to ‘behave’ on the road trip.” He sunk his teeth into the juncture where Ignis’s neck met his shoulder firmly enough that Ignis knew he’d be wearing a high collared shirt on the morrow to hide the teeth marks and bruising. Gladio indulged himself in sucking on the delicate skin hard, enjoying the way it made Ignis gasp, before he continued to speak. “Was gonna make you _beg_.”

Ignis slung one around around Gladio’s waist, his hand resting on the firm curve of the other man’s ass. His free hand wrapped around his partner’s cock, stroking it slowly, emerald eyes bright with desire as he spoke softly, the words almost seeming filthier carried, as they were, in his impeccable accent. “You want me to beg, Gladiolus? Oh, I’ll _beg_. I won’t rest until I’ve got this cock buried so deeply inside me I cannot ascertain where you end and I began. I’ll beg for you to _wreck me_ , Gladio, and I’ll thank you when you do it.” Ignis gnawed on his lower lip, momentarily looking a bit uncertain at his own boldness, before he pushed the unconfident train of thought right off the tracks and sank to his knees, still working Gladio’s cock with dexterous fingers. “But, if you’ll forgive me for ceasing my pleas a moment…” 

Where words had begun to fail him, actions spoke far more eloquently. He took Gladio into his mouth slowly, savoring the taste and texture that he had been without for so long, dragging his tongue over the thick vein that ran along the underside. Ignis pushed past his gag reflex and managed to almost engulf his lover’s cock completely. He kept his hand wrapped around the base, pumping in synchronous motion with his mouth, angling his head to the side and rolling his eyes up to keep looking at Gladio, knowing how much the other man got off on watching Ignis’s face when he was sucking him off.

Gladio cursed under his breath, at length and creatively, as he first listened to Ignis’s honeyed words, and then drank in the sight of his lover down on his knees, worshipping his cock. “Yeah, Iggy, just like that,” he sank his hands into the strategist’s ash-blonde hair, curling his fingers tight against his scalp, reveling in the shiver he watched course through Ignis’s frame at the firm touch. “Gods, you take my cock so good.”

Ignis moaned around Gladio’s cock in response, his eyes sly since he knew full well doing so would drive Gladio wild. And it worked, if the hands tightening harder in his hair were any indication. Ignis reached between his own legs with his idle hand to trace fingers lightly over his own engorged cock, gathering the precome leaking from the tip and beginning to tease himself open. While it wouldn’t be as thorough a job as he could do with proper lube, he was beyond caring.

“Damn it! Iggy, stop, I’m gonna come,” Gladio let go of Ignis’s hair after tugging his lover’s mouth away from his shaft. He reached down to haul Ignis to his feet, pulling him close and purring into his ear. “Don’t wanna do that til I’m inside you.”

Ignis hissed out a sharp breath as he felt himself forcibly removed from Gladio’s cock and lifted to his feet. Any irritation he felt at the interruption was eclipsed by the surge of desire pounding through him in response to both the manhandling, and Gladio’s impassioned words.

“Gladiolus,” Ignis drawled, cupping his partner’s cheek tenderly in one hand. “Shut up and fuck me.” 

For a man who normally didn’t swear, when he did, it was hot, Gladio decided. “You got it, Iggy.”

With careful precision, Gladio lowered the pair of them to lay on the pile formed by their discarded clothing, the fabric a welcome barrier between naked skin and the dirt of the haven grounds. He climbed over Ignis, kneeling between his legs, leaning forward to brace himself on palms planted firmly in the soil to either side of his beloved’s head. When Gladio’s lips met Ignis’s, the kiss was deep and expressive, as Gladio endeavored to non-verbally communicate the depth of love he felt for the other man.

Ignis wasn’t having it. He was far too lustful for things to go languid and romantic now. With a frustrated sound, he sank his teeth into Gladio’s lower lip, hands clenching on the larger man’s forearms hard enough to leave marks on the sun-darkened skin.

“Gladio,” he whined, not caring how breathy and needy his voice sounded. “ _Please_.”

“I see we’re back to the begging,” Gladio said teasingly.

“ _Gladio_!”

Ignis was silenced with a kiss. And mollified when he felt one of Gladio’s hands work down between them, fingers teasing at his entrance, checking his readiness.

“Iggy, love… this is gonna hurt.” Gladio’s tone a mixture of concern and desire.

“I’ll use a potion at the hotel,” Ignis said decisively, taking matters into his own hands and reaching to align Gladio’s cockhead with his asshole, never more grateful for his flexibility. “Now. Please, Gladiolus. _Now_.”

Gladio heeded his lover’s supplication and slowly pushed himself inside, giving Ignis’s body time to adjust to the intrusion. When at last he was fully within the tight heat that was Ignis, he lingered in stillness a long moment, scattering soft kisses across the other man’s face and neck.

Ignis’s response was to bite Gladio’s forearm. _Hard_.

And then, the tactician began to rock his pelvis upward against Gladio, in an effort to start the rhythmic movements he so desperately craved.

Gladio couldn’t help but chuckle. “Damn, you are thirsty tonight.” He began to thrust, trying to go easy on Ignis at first, but rapidly losing control of his tempo and momentum.

“You won’t break me,” Ignis snapped crossly when he could sense Gladio’s hesitance. He pushed himself against Gladio’s body with enough force that the Shield would have bruises from Ignis’s hipbones the next day. “At least, not in any way I don’t wish to be broken.” His clipped tone shifted into something softer, voice going languid and blurred.

Gladio moaned, and wrapped one arm underneath Ignis’s waist, lifting the other man half off the ground, the other still propping him up, fingers digging into the dirt beneath his palm as he pounded into the other man. “Don’t wanna break you. Gonna wreck you, though. You’ll be feeling this for _days_.” Gladio interspersed his words with kisses and bites, working his way across Ignis’s collarbone from his right shoulder to his left. “We’ll be out huntin’ and you’ll still feel me inside you.” He gave a particularly hard thrust for punctuation. “You’ll be cookin’ dinner, thinkin’ about my cock down your throat.” Gladio licked his way up one side of Ignis’s neck, before taking his throat in his teeth and holding on lightly enough to do no real harm, but firmly enough that the threat was there.

It was enough to push Ignis over the edge and he came hard, clinging to Gladio fiercely, the blunt edges of his nails drawing blood. “ _Gladio_!” His pupils were blown wide, brilliant green reduced to a more hint around the blackness, as he howled his lover’s name at the setting sun.

The combination of feeling Ignis’s entire body tense against him - _around_ him - and the way the strategist’s voice was so completely undone when he screamed Gladio’s name was enough. Gladio shouted something that was meant to be Ignis’s name as he came a moment later, before he sank his teeth into Ignis’s shoulder as his body shuddered with the aftershocks of the most intense orgasm he’d had in _months_.

Gladio came back to himself enough to carefully pull out, and rolled over to lay next to Ignis, trying to catch his breath. He shot a sated grin sidelong to Ignis and couldn’t help but tease. “That musta been one helluva dream you had this mornin’.”

Ignis smirked, responding simply, “Quite.”

The boys would have probably gone from pissed to worried by this point - the sun was almost completely down, and the older men had been quite obliviously ignoring their phones. But neither Ignis nor Gladio could bring themselves to care, caught up in the afterglow as they were.

They cuddled on the scant cushion formed of their discarded clothing, in a secluded haven out in the wilds of Cleigne, and enjoyed the moment. Maybe it was irresponsible. Maybe it was reckless.

But it was exactly what they needed.


	2. Ignis! Instructions!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I _know_ I'm not the only one to take Ignis giving instructions in a dirty manner. I have faith in my FFXV fam.  <3
> 
> Also, chapter count changed, because I'm apparently too rebellious to follow the 5+1 format properly. 
> 
> I originally had the "Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot" tag on this but guys, I just can't write a story that doesn't have at least a little plot. Generally an angsty one. I'm sorry! It won't be terribly angst-filled. My goal here is fluffy Gladnis goodness!

Hand in hand, Gladio and Ignis walked through the streets of Lestallum. Ignis had prudently suggested they actually stop at the market and grab a few things, since he had much such a big deal out of it before they parted ways with their friends at the car. Gladio was feeling guilty at adding more time on to what was already a longer absence than prudent - hard to shield someone when you’re not at their side, yeah? - but he couldn’t argue with the sense behind the idea.

The sun had fully set now, and Lestallum’s nightlife was buzzing. During the day, people moved languidly, leisurely moving from place to place in an effort not to become any more overheated than necessary. But at night, the temperature dropped and the peoples’ energy rose in counterpoint. The streets were packed, the market was thriving, and the mood was electric.

Gladio rubbed his thumb absently along Ignis’s wrist while they walked, enjoying the contrast as his digit swept between the leather of the other man’s glove, and the satin of his bare skin. “So, what’re we lookin’ for?” The Shield tried to think back to the monologue Ignis had given poor Prompto. “Curatives and cooking ingredients?”

“Primarily,” Ignis agreed, free hand raising to nudge his glasses fractionally higher on the bridge of his nose. “This shouldn’t take terribly long, if the market stalls are still laid out in the same pattern as the last time we were here.”

And indeed, the shopping was concluded in short order, the men hastening towards the Leville with their purchases. When Gladio saw Noct and Prompto sitting on a bench near the hotel entrance, he let go of Ignis’s hand, albeit reluctantly. While he kept his face smooth, his stomach churned a bit at the necessity.

He didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Gladio could pinpoint the exact moment the younger men saw them by the way they surged to their feet, rushing towards them wearing nearly identical expressions of concern.

“Where the hell have you two been?” Noctis snapped, azure eyes flashing in a manner very reminiscent of Regis at his most regally commanding.

“And, uh… why’re there leaves in your hair, Iggy?” Prompto asked, reaching out and plucking one from Ignis’s decidedly mussed tresses.

“I’m afraid the delay was my fault,” Ignis spoke in that calm, vaguely-apologetic tone he took when explaining something he perceived as a minor shortcoming. “I recalled wild onions grew not far from here, and I wanted to see if I could find some to add to our provisions.”

“And I wasn’t lettin’ anyone go outside on their own, that close to sunset,” Gladio added, crossing thick arms over his wide chest.

Prompto nodded, seeming to accept their explanation.

Noctis was not so easily appeased.

“Is that why there’s… claw marks on your arms?” Noct leaned forward to inspect Gladio’s forearms more closely, Prompto parroting the motion with interest.

“Looks like you got bit, too!” The blonde exclaimed, running a careful fingertip around the perimeter of a bite mark that was certainly not left by a monster. “Dude, daemons before the sun fully set?”

“Nothing so perilous as that,” Ignis said dryly, his cheekbones dusted with a slight flush. He adjusted his glasses again, and Gladio hoped he’d knock it off - hell, they all knew Iggy fiddling with his glasses was the closest the strategist came to having a nervous tic.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle,” Gladio said with great bravado, their sentences blurring as he spoke over the latter half of Ignis’s explanation.

Noct sighed. “Whatever.” He rolled his eyes. “You have all the money, Ignis. Can we get the rooms now?”

“Yeah!” Prompto agreed. “It’s tourney time!”

“Nap time,” Noct argued petulantly.

“Certainly,” Ignis said agreeably, turning to walk into the lobby, knowing the other three would follow him indoors. He spoke briefly with the desk attendant, then moved to where his friends waited, clustered together near the foyer. 

In short order, rooms were arranged, food was ordered to be delivered via room service, and they were settled into their respective rooms. Noctis and Prompto wasted no time in firing up their phones, diving into electronic battle.

Gladio wasted no time getting Ignis into that soft, plush bed, sharing soft kisses as they cuddled back against the pillows. They took things no further, fatigue pulling them both into slumber with alacrity.

All too soon the morning came, and surprisingly, the younger men did not sleep half the day away. The group took in brunch at a local cafe, and the proprietor wasted no time in telling them about a swarm of oversized bees that had been spotted to the southwest of Lestallum, near Coernix Bypass.

“It’s dangerous,” the tipster warned them. “But, lucrative if you succeed.”

Ignis assented on behalf of the group. The bounty from this hunt alone would more than make up for the money spent on their stay at the Leville.

They finished their meal and headed out on the hunt. Prompto and Noctis chattered about all the sweet loot they’d acquired in their gaming the night before, but Gladio didn’t pay it much mind. He was very determinedly _not_ staring at the back of Ignis’s perfectly coiffed head. Nope. He was reading his book, gods damn it, who cared if he hadn’t turned a page in an hour because he couldn’t stop thinking about the way Ignis’s voice has sounded as he’d come undone?

Several more hours passed in a similar, unremarkable fashion as they drove towards Coernix Bypass. Finally, the Regalia slowed, and Gladio didn’t have to ask why. He could see the swarm from where he sat in the car, the bees were that large.

“I don’t like this,” Prompto fretted.

“Watch yourself,” Ignis counseled as he climbed out of the car, summoning his paired daggers.

Gladio eyed the bees, and shrugged, calling his greatsword from the Armiger. Speedy and flying, might be a challenge. Definitely a distraction from his turbulent thoughts. He let his face stretch in a fierce grin as he shifted his full attention to the upcoming fight. “Let’s do this!” Gladio shouted as he charged into battle.

Noct warped to the other side of the swarm, and he and Gladio momentarily had some of the bees surrounded in a pincer attack. Prompto held back, sniping the insects from long range. Ignis spun through the monsters with a deadly grace, daggers flashing in his fists as he carved away at their opponents.

But they just kept coming. Astrals, there were so many. Gladio cracked a potion after one especially pernicious bee managed to get in some good hits.

Prompto seemed to be doing well enough, out of range as he was, but Noctis was starting to breathe hard as the battle raged on. He was running out of tricks, and wanted to end this fast.

“Ignis! Instructions!” the Prince shouted desperately as he parried away another attack.

“Kill them before they kill us,” Ignis suggested helpfully.

“ _Ignis_!” Noctis didn’t sound terribly amused. 

Gladio couldn’t help but chuckle at the Advisor’s poorly timed joke, though.

“Try a blizzard spell!” Ignis called out, nimbly back-flipping out of range. 

Gladio made haste to move away as well, not wishing to get caught in the magic.

Noctis channeled a powerful blizzard spell which incapacitated most of the bees, while Prompto continued to shoot at them from his position. After the blizzard dissipated, Noctis began feverishly warp-striking from one target to the next.

Gladio yelled a wordless battle cry and charged back into the fray, pleased to note that the tide seemed to be turning in their favor.

And then, after frenetic minutes that felt like hours, the battle was done, the party had won, and the tired hunters piled into the car to head back to Lestallum and collect their bounty.

“So tired,” Noct muttered, leaning his head back against the seat. Magic was always a drain on his energy.

“What else is new?” Gladio teased, elbowing him lightly.

“Shut up.”

Prompto laughed at the exchange. “Big guy’s gotcha there, Noct.” The gunslinger’s eyes turned crafty as he swiveled to face Ignis. “Although…. hey Igs, since Noct is soooo tired, maybe we can crash at the Leville again?”

Gladio could see Ignis frown in profile as he mulled over Prompto’s words. “That _is_ a splendid idea, however… I do not think we can make it back into town before dark. We’d best find a haven.”

The Shield felt his face burn, and he wondered how Ignis could even say the word ‘haven’ in such a calm, collected tone. Hell, he was half-hard just from hearing it.

How the mighty have fallen, turned on so abruptly and so intensely just from hearing the word ‘haven’.

Oh well. He did love camping.

“Sounds good to me!” Gladio said with perhaps too much enthusiasm.

After they arrived at the haven, Gladio got to work setting up camp. He uselessly wished they had an extra tent - as if thin canvas walls would give any true privacy - but was determined to make the best of a frustrating situation. 

Astrals, it had almost been better just going cold turkey. Now that his body remembered how fucking fantastic it felt to be buried balls deep inside of Iggy, he didn’t want to go back to abstaining.

As Gladio finished setting up the tent, he wondered if there was some way he could get the younger men out of camp for a few hours. Hell, he’d take fifteen minutes. But he couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t incredibly foolhardy, and he wasn’t going to risk the Prince - or Prompto - just to get his dick wet.

Gladio’s mood turned introspective and foul as he started into the crackling campfire. Even the Cup Noodles Ignis surprised him with, layered with shrimp and chickatrice meat, couldn’t pull him out of this sudden funk.

He had understood the necessity of continuing to hide their relationship from the general public, back in Insomnia, when there was a general public. But he was starting to have trouble comprehending the reason to continue the facade with their closest friends in the wake of the city’s fall. Fuck, Noct wouldn’t care, as long as they didn’t start making out in front of him or anything. Prompto would probably be over the moon for them and insist on taking too many photos. 

Nodding to himself with resolve, Gladio decided to bring it up with Ignis the next chance he got.

Which could, admittedly, be a while, he concluded with a sigh, going back to stirring his noodles, occasionally taking a small bite. He knew he should eat, hell, Ignis had made his favorite, but he just couldn’t muster up an appetite.

Well. Not for _noodles_.

After setting the still mostly-full cup on the ground, Gladio pushed to his feet, looking anywhere but at Ignis. “Goin’ for a run,” he mumbled, before loping off away from camp.

Gladio wasn’t stupid. He didn’t go very far, just in a simple loop around the outer edges of the haven. Far enough away to feel like he had some space to think, but not so far that he’d be cut off from assistance if there was a daemon attack.

Gladio wondered if Ignis’s continued insistence on secrecy was a misguided attempt by the strategist to continue believing they had a home to go back to. Hell, they were on the run, taking on hunts and quests to try and make enough money to eat and fuel up the Regalia while they searched for the Royal Arms. Who the fuck cared if it was inappropriate or gauche or whatever for two of the Prince’s retainers to be involved?

They way Gladio saw it, they should find their happiness where they could.

And he had already found his with Ignis.

“Fuck this,” he muttered as he finished another lap. “No more hiding.” Decisively, Gladio turned to run back towards the camp. 

When he crested the apex of the haven, he found only Ignis sitting around the embers left by the cook-fire. Muted talking from the direction of the tent confirmed that Noctis and Prompto had turned in, but not quite settled down.

“Gladio,” the tactician said in quiet invitation, gesturing towards the camp chair beside his.

Gladio lowered himself into the seat with a sigh, leaning forward to brace his elbows on his knees, staring into the flickering flames. He appreciated that Ignis didn’t push for him to talk right away, but gave him the moment to organize his thoughts.

Not that it helped him find the eloquence he was hoping for.

“Why can’t we tell ‘em, Iggy?” he asked bluntly. “Insomia’s fallen. There’s no royal court to judge us.” He raised eyes his eyes from the fire to bore into Ignis’s. “Six, they’re our _friends_. They’d be happy for us.”

Ignis appeared pensive, which wasn’t exactly unusual, but definitely was not the expression Gladio was hoping to see on his partner’s face in response to his impassioned inquiries.

“Gladiolus,” Ignis said carefully, almost over-enunciating the words. “I love you more than I imagined possible.”

Gladio sighed heavily. “But?”

“I just don’t think it’s appropriate for us to interact in such a manner around His Highness.”

“Why?” Gladio surged to his feet, his chair falling backwards. “Fucking _why_ , Iggy? What the hell is inappropriate about being in love?”

As Gladio stood there, fists clenched at his sides, breathing as hard as if he was in the midst of intense combat, he realized that he had been shouting, and may have just rendered this entire conversation moot.

When neither of the younger men emerged from the tent, and Gladio realized he could hear what seemed to be authentic, discordant snores rising in a duet from behind him, he was momentarily relieved to realize his friends had slept through his outburst.

But then he looked at Iggy again, and felt his heart stutter uncomfortably in his chest.

Ignis’s stoic facade had cracked. There were tears welling up in his verdant eyes, and his posture had slumped in an uncharacteristic fashion. Fuck, it looked like he was trembling, Gladio noticed, as he watched Ignis just sort of… fold in on himself, arms wrapping around his midsection, fingers digging into his sides, his shoulders shaking with nearly inaudible sobs.

“Iggy…” 

“You’re right.”

Gladio’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He hadn’t expected Ignis to say that. Six, he just wanted to lean down and gather the other man into his arms and hold him until he stopped shaking. 

But they needed to have this conversation. So Gladio waited patiently where he stood in front of the other man, keeping his posture relaxed and his facial expression open as he regarded Ignis, watching the gradual process of the Advisor pulling himself back together.

“You’re right,” Ignis said again, and this time his voice was steadier. “And I’m sorry.” When he lifted his eyes to meet Gladio’s again, they’re dry, but the trails drawn through the dust on his cheeks stand out starkly in the warm light shed by the campfire. “I should have never insisted on this charade.” He laughs softly, bitterly. “It seems such a silly thing to have worried over, now, after… _everything_.”

Gladio knelt in front of Ignis’s chair and gently cupped his hands on Ignis’s knees, since his arms are folded too tightly for Gladio to be able to hold his hands. “I love you, Iggy.” He reaches up to smooth back an errant lock of Ignis’s hair tenderly. “We tell ‘em tomorrow?”

“Indeed.” Ignis finally smiled, and he relaxed, unfolding his arms only to lean forward and wind them around Gladio’s shoulders, pressing his lips against the other man’s in a lingering kiss.

Gladio’s heart was soaring. On some level, he felt guilty at being so damn happy. His city has fallen. The King is dead. His father is dead. The world’s gone completely to shit.

But he had Ignis. He had Noctis, and Prompto.

He had _hope_.

As Ignis’s lips continued to move against his, Gladio pushed such maudlin thoughts aside. It wasn’t good to dwell in the dark. He needed to keep his mind sharp.

He needed the light. 

Ignis _was_ his light.

Gladio didn’t even care how cheesy that thought was. It was the fucking truth.

He stood, half lifting Ignis out of his chair just from the motion of standing, the other man’s arms were wrapped around him so tightly. It was a no-brainer for Gladio to cup Ignis’s tight ass in his strong hands, lifting him the rest of the way. When Ignis’s legs cinched around Gladio’s waist, they both moaned, their eyes meeting, smiles lighting up both their faces as they reached a silent accord.

Gladio carried Ignis to the far edge of the haven, to a spot that wouldn’t be in direct line of sight of anyone leaving the tent. He knew they’d have to be relatively quick, and they’d have to be quiet.

But he’d make the most of it.

They sat there on the grassy ground, unexpectedly still, as each seemed to be waiting for the other to take control, to move things forward.

Gladio leaned in close to Ignis with a wolfish grin as inspiration struck, and he whispered so closely to his partner’s ear that his lips tickled the delicate skin of Ignis’s earlobe with each syllable. His words were simple, teasing, and under the circumstances, ridiculously hot.

“Ignis… instructions?”

He heard the sharp way Ignis’s breath hissed out in surprise. Clearly his lover hadn’t expected to be unexpectedly thrust in control of the situation.

Gladio knew Iggy’d rise to the occasion, though.

And he wasn’t disappointed.

“Touch me,” Ignis’s tone faltered a bit at first, but grew in confidence as he continued to speak. “Unmake me, Gladiolus. Help me find peace.”

Gladio didn’t answer verbally. He didn’t need to. He did what Ignis had asked of him and began to touch him, taking his time, running his hands over his partner’s still-clothed body, outlining the musculature with his fingertips, smoothing back his hair. Piece by piece, he stripped the strategist of his layers of clothing, starting with his arm garters and ending with his stockings. Every inch of revealed skin, Gladio kissed, his tongue laving long stripes over Ignis’s arms, his chest.

The Shield reveled in the way Ignis was quivering beneath him, bowing up into every tender touch. 

Last night at the haven, the two of them had been men possessed, driven by lust and lost to reason.

Tonight at this haven, they were guided by love, deliberate and gentle.

Gladio pecked Ignis’s cheek sweetly before retaking his lips in an ardent kiss. “Love you, Iggy.”

“Gladio,” Ignis said his name on a sigh. “Love just simply isn’t a strong enough word to encompass what I feel for you.” Ignis smiled at him after breaking their kiss, and began to carefully pull off Gladio’s clothing. In a near-perfect mirror of Gladio’s actions, Ignis lavished attention on every bit of newly-exposed flesh with his lips, painting the story of his devotion across the Shield’s body with each sensual stroke of his tongue.

They embraced, legs entwining, and just held each other a long moment, foreheads pressed together, breath mingling.

When Gladio wrapped his calloused hand around Ignis’s shaft, it wrenched a gasp from the tactician that descended into a throaty moan.

Ignis’s dexterous fingers found Gladio’s hard length and began to stroke him in the way he knew his lover enjoyed best, rubbing his thumb across the weeping tip of his cock on each upstroke, dragging a finger along the vein on the underside with each downstroke.

While their arousal was intensifying, neither felt inclined to rush, and they spent considerable time kissing and caressing each other, hands slick with pre-come, breaths growing louder and more rapid, almost staccato.

“I want you inside me,” Ignis murmured against Gladio’s lips. “Make love to me slowly, Gladiolus. _Please_.”

Gladio’s mouth went dry. He hadn’t thought he could get any harder, but Astrals take him, his cock was positively aching in the wake of his lover’s vehement pleas. Unwinding himself from around Ignis, he moved down his body with a trail of kisses, pausing to nibble at the skin stretched over his hip-bone before engulfing his cock with the wet heat of his mouth. Gladio slid one hand underneath Ignis’s ass, lifting him slightly for a better angle as he slowly drew his mouth off the other man’s shaft. He nuzzled at Ignis’s inner thighs, peppering them with light kisses, one hand taking up where his mouth left off, sliding over the hard length of him. Dipping his head lower, Gladio flicked his tongue out to delicately trace Ignis’s asshole, and he felt his partner momentarily tense.

“I’ve got you, Iggy.” Gladio raised his head to smile, before lowering back down to lick at the puckered skin of Ignis’s entrance in earnest until he heard the other man begin to whimper softly. Gladio knew Ignis only made that particular sound when he was overwhelmed by sensation. To Gladio, it meant he was doing something right. 

Gladio carefully began working a finger inside of Ignis, tongue still flickering against his skin, other hand still pumping. He added another finger, then another, slowly and carefully stretching him, preparing him, wanting this time to be gentle and pain free, with no need for hastily consumed potions the next morning.

“G-Gladio,” he heard Ignis’s voice, breathy but earnest. “Gladio, _please_.”

Gladio liked how Ignis forgot most words when they were making love, except for his name.

After one final, slow lick across Ignis’s hole, Gladio rose up, climbing over the lithe man. “Say it.”

Ignis wasn’t too far gone, and knew what his lover meant. “ _Gladiolus_ ,” he sighed, the polysyllabic name sounding almost musical, shaped with his cultured accent.

Gladio needed no further encouragement. He slid inside easier than the night before, since they’d taken more time to prep, and the feel of Ignis’s body so tightly clenched around his cock nearly did him in right then and there. He paused a moment once fully within, giving them each a chance to adjust to the heady feeling of being connected in such an intimate manner.

Then he began to move.

Last night, he’d been fast. They bit and they scratched. They teased and they screamed.

Tonight, he was slow. He brushed delicate kisses over Ignis’s forehead, his cheeks, supporting his weight on one hand, using the other to pet Ignis’s hair, to cup his cheek, to stroke his cock.

Ignis didn’t last terribly long, the commingled sensations of Gladio moving within him and touching him with such love in his hands and lips more than enough to render him completely undone. When he came, his lips soundlessly formed the shape of Gladio’s name, and he clutched at Gladio tightly.

Feeling the way Ignis pressed so closely against him as he orgasmed pushed Gladio over the edge a moment later, breathing words of love against the side of Ignis’s neck as they clung to each other, catching their breath.

The moment felt almost sacred. It felt so wonderful, so _right_.

Gladio wished it could last forever, even as he knew it could not. They needed sleep. He knew Iggy would insist on rising early, on fixing breakfast, on doing the hundred little things he did every day to take care of everybody except himself.

That was okay, though. Gladio would take care of Iggy.

“We should get some sleep, babe,” Gladio said softly, not entirely sure if Ignis was still awake.

A sleepy voice answered him, the words half yawned and half spoken, “Indeed, love.”

After a final languorous kiss, they unwound themselves from each other, partially re-dressing and gathering up the rest of their clothing, before making their way back to the campsite proper. Too responsible to just head straight to bed, Gladio took care of banking the fire for the night while Ignis tidied up the debris of the evening meal.

They managed to slip into the tent without waking either of the younger men, and settled down to catch a few hours of sleep before the new day began.

Gladio knew he’d sleep better than he had since before they left on this ill-fated road trip. 

Tomorrow they would tell their friends, and the sneaking around could stop.

With that thought, the Shield drifted off into dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter did not go as expected. At _all_. Hopefully it still turned out okay, even if it took our boys a while to get there.  <3
> 
> So, to be honest with you all, the main reason I'm writing this fic is to get better at writing smut, because as much as I love to read it, I feel like I am dreadful at writing it! Your comments and kudos on chapter one made me smile so freakin' hard because I realized I must not be nearly as bad as I thought. So, yay! And thanks! <3
> 
> Please continue to drop kudos and comments if you're enjoying! It encourages me to keep writing, and just generally makes my day! I'm also totally open to constructive criticism, because my goal is to get better at this.


	3. Interlude: Prompto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompto and Gladio take a morning run.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day: Merry XMas! <3
> 
> Not a sexy chapter, but I hope still an enjoyable one.

Prompto was so. Freaking. BORED.

He wasn’t used to being the first one up in the morning. He was used to waking up long before Noct, sure, but by the time Prompto clambered out of the tent, Iggy was usually cooking, and Gladio was either out on his morning run or already back from it.

Today, however, the young gunslinger was the first one up, and it was just _weird_.

He’d slept a bit fitfully. After he and Noctis turned in, Prompto had huddled in his sleeping bag, using the fabric to mask the glow of his phone while he played games to trick his brain into getting sleepy.

At one point, he thought he’d heard yelling from outside the tent, but he figured getting in the middle of an argument between Igster and the big guy was a _bad_ idea, so he’d feigned sleep until he’d slipped into dreamland for real.

Man, why had everything gotten so confusing? Prompto counted on his friends’ stability to help keep his own over-active imagination and anxiety in check. With no one awake to distract him, his thoughts raced in a plethora of directions.

Ignis had seemed uncharacteristically distracted lately. Prompto might not be as smart as the Advisor, or as constantly aware of his surroundings as Gladio, but the photographer was used to taking in the environment around him subconsciously, always preparing for that next best shot. Lately, Ignis had worn a troubled facial expression. Not really that notable, since they were running for their lives from the Empire, getting into harder and harder hunts to try and make ends meet, exploring dangerous ruins to try and find the rest of Noct’s Royal Arms.

The subtle blush highlighting Ignis’s high cheekbones that Prompto kept noticing was unusual, though. On another person, it would barely be noticeable. But, this was Ignis Fucking Scientia, the very image of poise, always calm and collected, exuding maturity beyond his years.

But Iggy kept… blushing. It was weird.

Then there was the bruise Prompto had spied just barely peeking out from beneath the strategists’s collared shirt. If Prompto didn’t know better, he’d say it was the remnant of some good, old-fashioned necking.

And he didn’t think that bite mark on Gladio’s forearm was from a monster.

Prompto jumped up from the camp chair he’d been slouched in and began to pace around the haven restlessly. 

Suddenly, he had it! Prompto amused himself by snapping his fingers, striking the melodramatic pose he’d caught Ignis in too many times when the man was inspired to try cooking something new.

Blushing for no reason + love bites + taking almost an hour to show up at the Leville… dammit, those guys must’ve managed to pick up some chicks at the fucking marketplace! Prompto groaned in frustration. They could’ve at least invited him along! How the hell had they managed to not only meet women, but seal the deal in such a short period of time? Prompto tapped his chin as he considered, and then he started giggling, and he was the one blushing now. He could see it. Ignis was pretty hot once you got past the stern angry librarian/irritated mom expression he wore almost around the clock. And Gladio was naturally flirtatious, crazy buff, covered in that sweet tattoo.

Yeah. Prompto sighed. Some guys had all the luck.

Gladio and Ignis came out of the tent one after the other, and when Prompto looked at them it seemed like they sprang apart hastily. Huh, well, it was close quarters in there, maybe they guys just needed a little space after sleeping like sardines all night.

“Morning!” Prompto called out cheerfully. “What’s for breakfast?”

“That,” Ignis drawled drowsily as he opened a can of Ebony, drinking deeply before he continued to speak, “is an excellent question.” Keeping the coffee in hand, Ignis turned to rummage through their food stores.

“Hey,” Gladio said, punching Prompto one the arm lightly as he walked by. “Run?”

“Sure, big guy!” Prompto beamed.

The two began loping down the hill from the haven, Prompto mentally marking off several sweet spots to take pictures on their way back to camp. For now, though, he kept his camera stowed safely away, and focused on his breathing, his pace, and the sound of his feet pounding against the dirt.

“You’re up early,” Gladio commented, shooting Prompto a curious sidelong glance.

“Couldn’t sleep!” Prompto explained. “Didn’t wanna wake you all up with my tossing and turning.”

“Somethin’ on your mind?”

Prompto considered for about half a second that this was, perhaps, not the best way to bring up his theory about Lestallum.

However if there was one thing Prompto was not known for, it was thinking before speaking. Especially this early in the morning.

“What were you and Iggy _really_ up to in Lestallum?”

“None of your business,” Gladio muttered, and Prompto saw the way the Shield’s sun-bronzed cheeks darkened with what unmistakably was a blush.

“I think I already have a pretty good idea, big guy,” Prompto chortled.

Gladio stopped running so abruptly that Prompto sprinted another few yards before looping around to head back to his friend. The Shield’s face was serious when Prompto stopped in front of him, the expression causing Prompto’s laughter to dry up almost as quickly as it’d started, violet-blue eyes going wide in surprise.

“What do you know?”

“Uh, well,” Prompto fidgeted, feeling pinned by the intensity of the large man’s scrutiny. “I mean, those marks on your arms? That wasn’t from a monster, buddy.”

“Go on.”

“Well, and Iggy… I saw a hickey on his neck.”

“And?”

Prompto scoffed. “I don’t know how you two managed to score some action at the freakin’ _marketplace_ , but next time, invite me along!”

Gladio’s entire body relaxed as Prompto spat out his theory. Interesting. 

That meant he was wrong.

The gears started turning in Prompto’s head again as he tried to form a new hypothesis.

Gladio laughed, the sound rich and deep, and filled with… relief? “Maybe when you’re older, kid.” He smirked and started running again.

“Hey!” Prompto started bounding along a couple paces behind the other man. “I’m only two years younger! I’m not a kid, dammit!”

The two circled back to camp and joined Ignis and a very disgruntled Noctis for breakfast. The food was awesome, as always, but Prompto had to continually remind himself to keep eating it, he was so distracted. He wasn’t really worried about Noct, that was his best friend’s normal demeanor whenever he had to wake up before noon. Besides, he had more important questions that needed answers.

If they hadn’t found willing women… who gave Ignis that hickey? Who gave Gladio the love bite?

Why was Gladio letting him think his guess was right, when it was wrong?

Prompto had a feeling the answers would be painfully obvious once he figured it all out, but Six, he had no fucking clue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some kudos and comments under my tree? <3


	4. A New Recipe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis and Gladio play with their food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE A BETA NOW! The kind calamityera  has offered to help me out with my FFXV works. All the mistakes are proudly my own! If it makes sense, it's probably thanks to her though!

As the group ate breakfast, Ignis kept waiting for Gladio to bring it up. He was the one who’d made such an issue of unveiling their secret, after all. But rather than saying a word, Gladio just kept shooting pointed looks in his general direction, and it was starting to wear on Ignis’s nerves.

Oh, he supported the idea of telling their friends. Ignis would have never agreed to do so if he had any remaining reservations. But, for a man who could speak with eloquence and grace before the entire Lucian Council, the notion of confessing his love to his closest friends was terrifying.

What if they didn’t approve? Ignis and Gladio were expected to put their duty before all other pursuits.

What if they didn’t understand? While Ignis certainly didn’t think his friends would have any issue with two men being in love, they may not understand how Gladio could have fallen for him: stuffy, formal, boring Ignis Scientia.

What if they laughed? He couldn’t really blame them. Gladiolus was beautiful, raw and sensual, graceful and confident.

Ignis felt he was quite plain, knew he was perhaps too reserved, and still wasn’t entirely sure how he’d managed to end up with a man like Gladio, who could surely do so much better.

The fear caused him to straighten his spine, his posture tense and ramrod straight. His face was carefully blank as he sipped his third Ebony of the morning, outwardly composed despite the whirlwind of self-deprecating thoughts cycling through his mind. Ignis had spent too many years cultivating his poised persona to fall apart now.

Six take him, he was making excuses. He certainly didn’t need to stand on ceremony with his friends. If he couldn’t show a little human emotion around Noct, around Prompto, when could he?

And, even if they didn’t really comprehend how Gladio and Ignis just fit together, neither of the younger men would be judgemental. Ignis knew that on a logical level, truly.

But, fear wasn’t logical.

Emotions couldn’t be neatly organized, pulled out only when the time was right.

Even Ignis couldn’t dictate his own feelings.

Gladio’s audible sigh interrupted Ignis’s internal argument, the growing impatience in Gladio’s golden eyes causing Ignis’s stomach to clench and churn. Ignis thought the sigh sounded quite pointed. Even with his breathing, Gladio was communicating the full extent of his frustration with Ignis’s silence.

Was he just supposed to blurt it out, artlessly and unpracticed?

Should he explain to Noctis that they’d still put him first, their duty superseding their feelings?

How could he even bring it up? So far, that morning’s conversation had consisted of Gladio and Prompto talking about the wildlife they’d seen on their run, and Noctis complaining about the sun being too bright.

Ignis felt his heart racing, could hear the way his breath was increasing in both volume and tempo. Sweat coated his face and made his hands feel clammy inside his gloves. But why was he sweating when he wasn’t exerting himself?

Oh, Astrals. He was having a bloody panic attack.

Perfect.

Ignis stood, features carefully composed into a casual smile. “Excuse me but a moment,” he said, his calm tone belying the thoughts screaming inside his head. He turned and walked away from his friends, ducking behind the tent where he fell to his knees, planting his palms flat in the dirt, mentally running through a grounding exercise.

Breathe in. Count to three. Breath out. Count to three. Repeat. And again. Again.

“Iggy?”

Ignis sighed. He’d just been starting to calm down, too. But, he couldn't really be angry with Gladio, who was certainly acting out of concern. When Gladio laid one of his strong hands on Ignis’s shoulder, the Advisor allowed himself the luxury of nuzzling his cheek against it for a moment.

“Gladio.” Ignis looked up at the man, this wonderful, amazing man who actually loved him. “I just… I needed a moment.”

“Your brain’s loud today, huh?” Gladio hunkered down beside him closely enough for their bodies to touch, but not so close that he was encroaching on his personal space too much. It was a distinction Ignis appreciated.

“Quite,” Ignis admitted. “I thought…” he adjusted his glasses, considering his words. “I imagined that you’d be the one to tell them about our relationship, as you were the one who wished to make it known.”

Gladio waited patiently, knowing whatever thought-spiral had flourished in his lover’s brain had more to it than that.

“Every time I looked at you,” Ignis tried to explain, “I thought you looked more impatient, and more disappointed in me. Each time you’d sigh, it was as if you were urging me to get on with it, wondering why the words went dry in my throat.” His voice wavered slightly, but he pressed on, so quietly Gladio would have never heard him if he hadn’t sank down beside him. “I thought you were cross with me. That I was messing everything up. I started to have a panic attack, so I came back here to center myself.”

Gladio reached out gently, cupping Ignis’s chin in his hand and turning the other man to face him. When Ignis looked at his partner, he saw no censure in those warm amber eyes - only love and understanding.

“Iggy, I can tell ‘em if you want me to. Hell, I just thought you’d have a whole script prepared, like usual,” Gladio admitted. “You know me. I’ll just blurt it out, no frills, just the truth. I didn’t want to put you on the spot like that first thing in the morning.”

“Oh,” Ignis said guilelessly. “That was… very considerate of you, Gladio.” He cleared his throat, feeling an embarrassed flush burn over his cheeks. “I’ve made quite a big deal out of nothing, haven’t I?” Ignis smiled wryly. “Again.”

Gladio chuckled, bumping his shoulder against Ignis’s good-naturedly. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” he said fondly. “C’mon,” he stood, offering a hand to Ignis. “Let’s go back and finish breakfast.”

Ignis clasped the proffered hand in his own and rose to his feet fluidly, smiling. “Perhaps our actions could speak for us,” he proposed, squeezing Gladio’s hand for emphasis. “Let’s walk back to camp as we are now, shall we?”

Gladio grinned. “Yeah. Let’s do it.”

They walked hand-in-hand around the side of the tent, nonchalantly going back to the ring of chairs around the campfire.

Noctis glanced up, saw it was just Specs and Gladio coming back, and went back to staring at his phone sleepily.

Prompto, however did not disappoint.

“Oh. _Em_. GEE!” He burst out in staccato excitement. “Noct. NOOOOOCT!”

“ _What?_ ”

“I KNEW SOMETHING HAPPENED IN LESTALLUM!” Prompto half fell out of his chair in his enthusiasm, arms flailing in emphasis. “So, that hickey on Ignis’s neck,” he grinned. “The bite mark and ‘clawing’ on Gladio’s arms.” His voice was saccharine. “You _guys_!!” Prompto lunged forward grabbing Gladio and Ignis into a hug. “This is great!”

The Prince belatedly seemed to catch on that there was more afoot here than just Prompto being Prompto, and he put his phone away, looking at the other three curiously. When he zeroed in on the sight of Ignis and Gladio’s fingers twined together tightly, his brows shot up in surprise.

“How long?” Noctis wondered aloud.

“Lestallum, I just told you, buddy!”

Ignis cleared his throat. “Actually…”

“It’s been a little over two years now,” Gladio admitted.

Noctis frowned, looking between the two of them, cobalt eyes filled with surprise. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Prompto had gone uncharacteristically silent, and he wore a slightly hurt expression, pulling back from the hug and going back to sit beside Noct.

Gladio and Ignis followed suit and sat down as well, though their hands remained clasped.

“We felt it best to keep things quiet, back in Insomnia,” Ignis explained. “Especially when things were new, we didn’t wish to make waves at the Citadel, to cast any doubt on our abilities to perform our duties without distraction.”

“You know how some of those council members could be,” Gladio elaborated. “Didn’t need to give them anything to gossip about, yeah?”

Noct nodded slowly. “But, we’ve been on our own for weeks now. What changed? Why speak up now?”

Ignis smiled ruefully. “You know how stubborn I can be, Highness. But, Gladio convinced me that it was time to come clean.”

“I’m glad you did.” Noctis smiled for the first time that morning, the expression holding such genuine happiness that Ignis fought to suppress a flare of guilt for the years of subterfuge. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“Yeah!” Prompto’s mood flipped like a switch, the blonde full of bubbly cheer once more. “I _totally_ ship it!”

Gladio groaned.

Ignis wondered what seafaring vessels had to do with romance, but didn’t feel the need to inquire at that moment.

That inner voice that had been arguing in circles within his mind all morning had quieted completely at last, with their friends’ warm acceptance of their relationship. Ignis felt tension he hadn’t realized he’d been carrying fall away from his shoulders, his back. Astrals, he fancied that his _hair_ was more relaxed.

Turning, he pressed a rather chaste kiss to Gladio’s cheek, testing the waters as it were. Ignis couldn’t help but smirk when all three of his companions reacted quite as expected: Gladio smiled, leaning into the touch, Prompto squealed in delight and snapped a picture, and Noctis gave a dramatic, put-upon sigh.

Ignis felt like he might float right out of his chair as they finished breakfast, he felt so light. So free. Gladio, as usual, had been right to insist on this course of action.

Not that he’d ever tell Gladio, Ignis thought with a smirk. Astrals knew, his lover’s ego was big enough already.

It was just one of the myriad ways the two were so well-suited. Where Ignis could easily get caught up in his thoughts, trying to work out all possible scenarios, prepare for any outcomes, ready a plethora of contingency plans, Gladio lived in the moment, acting on what he saw, not what could be.

Ignis was just happy that Gladio had seen something in him that merited taking action.

Moving quickly, Ignis tidied up the dishes and cooking paraphernalia, falling into his typical post-breakfast routine, while Gladio took down the tent and began stowing their gear. Things moved along more rapidly today, since Prompto lent the Shield a hand.

Ignis was momentarily startled when he turned, his hands full of plates, and found Noctis standing right behind him.

“Highness?”

The Prince of Lucis scoffed. “I have a name, Specs.”

“Noct?”

“I just,” Noct trailed off, carding fingers through his messy black hair, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Eventually, he brought his eyes to meet Ignis’s, and he smiled for the second time that day.

“I’m happy for you, Specs.” Noct raised a hand when he saw Ignis open his mouth to reply, halting his Advisor. “I mean, you do so much for me… for all of us.” He fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “You deserve some happiness.”

Ignis smiled warmly. A bit of pride sparked in his verdant gaze. Noct had truly come a long way from the emotionally closed-off teenager who had struggled through high school socialization, and was becoming a fine young man. He felt a surge of the type of love parents must feel for their children, even though only a couple years spanned between their ages.

“Thank you, Noct.” His voice was soft, happy, and unguarded.

“And, hey,” Noctis put on an earnest expression, voice serious, though a hint of humor wove through his words. “Gladio better take good care of you. I’ll make it a Royal Decree if necessary.”

“Yes, well,” Ignis tried to stop the blush that painted his cheeks scarlet. He truly did. “I’ve no complaints warranting royal attention, Highness.”

“So, what’s the plan for today, Igster?” Prompto broke in on the moment, draping an arm around each of his friends’ shoulders companionably.

Ignis mulled over the mental list of hunts he’d accumulated around Lestallum, the various other favors townsfolk had requested of their little group. He never forgot their primary objective to take back Insomnia - and the rest of Lucis - from the Empire. 

However, he knew part of the reason he had cracked this morning was just the continued stress of life threatening hunts. The relentless focus on missions that could get one or more of them killed, the never-ending waves of MT’s that kept raining down from the sky from those bloody transports.

Ignis knew he wasn’t the only one feeling the strain. Noctis had begun complaining of intense headaches, and Prompto had dark circles etched beneath his brilliantly-hued eyes.

Perhaps it was selfish of him, Ignis mused, but he thought they could all use a day to just be.

“Well, we need to collect the bounty from yesterday’s hunt, so I propose we head back to Lestallum,” Ignis said.

“Sounds like a plan,” Gladio agreed. “You got another hunt lined up for us after?”

“Actually, I thought we could take the day off.”

“Uh, sorry, could you repeat that?” Noctis smirked.

“I didn’t know you knew what a day off was!” Prompto cackled, elbowing Noct for emphasis.

Ignis cleared his throat, adjusting his glasses unnecessarily as he regarded his laughing friends. To be fair, they weren’t wrong. Ignis couldn’t remember the last time he took a personal day that didn’t involve recuperation from an illness or injury.

“If you’d rather continue on, I heard rumors of a garula herd that needs thinning,” Ignis said drily, arching a perfectly-manicured eyebrow in sardonic humor.

“Nonono!” Prompto exclaimed, holding his hands up. “Day off sounds great! You’re a genius!”

Gladio threw back his head and laughed.

 

The drive back to Lestallum went without incident. Once within the city, they collected the bounty easily, lingering at the cafe for a light lunch as they considered how to spend the rest of their day.

“I wanna explore!” Prompto said. “Noct, maybe we can find an arcade!”

“Sure,” the Prince said agreeably. “Let’s go.”

They sped off towards the heart of Lestallum, leaving Ignis and Gladio sitting at the table to settle the bill.

Gladio frowned a moment, not entirely sure it was a good idea for the younger men to go off unattended, but really not in the mood to spend such a beautiful day cooped up indoors surrounded by the cacophony of video games.

“They’ll be fine,” Ignis said, his partner seemingly reading his mind.

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” Gladio said, shrugging his impressive shoulders.

Ignis’s eyes glinted with mischief, tilting his head to the side. “Wouldn’t you rather spend the day with me?” he asked flirtatiously.

“Uh… duh?”

Ignis smirked wickedly. “Good.” He rose, dropping enough gil on the tabletop to more than cover their lunch. “Let’s be off, then. I want to browse the market.”

Gladio tried to bite back his groan, but failed spectacularly. Ignis was giving him _those_ looks, talking to him with _that_ tone, and he wanted to _shop_? “Sure, Iggy,” he said agreeably enough. It was a nice day for a walk, after all, and Gladio thought that perhaps wandering around the bustling market wouldn’t be so bad when he felt Ignis take his hand once more.

It was nice being able to walk around together doing something so simple as holding hands without worrying about who might see. And despite Gladio’s assumption that shopping would be boring, it really wasn’t. Ignis was clearly still in high spirits, bartering with the merchants, sampling exotic ingredients and spices, trading cooking tips and tricks with other patrons.

It was when they found a stall filled with fresh fruits that Ignis grinned triumphantly, snapping his fingers. “That’s it!”

Gladio managed not to laugh, but Six, it was close. His boyfriend was too cute when he got inspired. “What’s up, Iggy?”

“I’ve come up with a new recipe!”

“Heh,” Gladio couldn’t stop the chuckle, and when he spoke, his voice rumbled with amusement. “I could taste test for ya.”

The look Ignis pinned him with in response caused his breath to catch in this throat.

Gladio didn’t know what brought it on, but, _damn_ , Iggy looked hot.

“Indeed,” the strategist drawled, his voice purring a half-octave lower than it’s normal timbre, words just a touch over-enunciated in that way Ignis affected when he was growing aroused. “Your assistance would be most appreciated, Gladiolus.”

Oh. _Fuck_.

Full name.

Gladio hoped the shopping would be done soon.

And it was. Ignis selected what he wanted from the fruit vendor with alacrity, not taking the time to dicker over the prices at all, in stark contrast to the way he’d haggled over the cost of simple spices just minutes before.

“Let’s head back to the Leville and book some rooms, shall we?” Ignis asked. “A suite this time. I require sufficient space for cooking.”

“Whatever you want, Iggy.” Hell if Gladio was going to argue, though he wasn’t planning to let Ignis do much cooking. Though, the Shield was admittedly curious to see what Ignis had in store for the rest of their afternoon. It wasn’t often that Ignis took the lead in their personal interactions. Completely understandable to Gladio, since Ignis’s job required him to micromanage every aspect of his and Noct’s lives. Iggy deserved the space to relax and take a break from being in charge all the time, from his spreadsheets and calendars.

Gladio had no trouble taking the lead in private. But hell if he was gonna object to Ignis acting so sexily assertive.

He followed Ignis to the Leville, shamelessly admiring the way the muscles of his thighs rippled beneath his perfectly starched dress slacks as he walked. And if Gladio’s eyes lingered on his lover’s ass, well, who would blame him?

Gladio stood back and waited while Ignis negotiated their rooms, following him down the indicated corridor once the arrangements were settled.

Ignis gestured at a door, but kept walking past it as he spoke. “That’s where Noctis and Prompto will be staying.”

His green eyes smoldered. Gladio had picked up that phrase from some trashy romance novels he read as a guilty pleasure, but Astrals, despite the source material, he couldn’t think of a better way to describe his love’s facial expression.

“Text them the room number, would you?”

“Sure thing.”

Coming to the end of the hallway, Ignis slid the keycard into one of the doors, pushing it open and leading Gladio into a luxurious suite. There was a kitchenette, small, but functional enough, and better than one could find at most hotels. A small seating area with a loveseat and armchair, a desk, the usual hotel furnishings crammed into the main room of the suite.

Through a half open door, Gladio saw the wide expanse of a king size bed, and he didn’t even bother trying not to grin.

There were definite advantages to dating one of the top tacticians in Lucis. Gladio was extremely relieved they were at the other end of the building from Prince Charmless and his loyal Chocobo.

He wanted to make Ignis scream.

While Gladio took stock of his surroundings, Ignis busied himself putting away their things, taking all his purchases into the kitchen.

Gladio wasn’t certain whether to feel frustrated or bemused when Ignis did, in fact, start cooking.

Oh, well. It _was_ kinda hot to watch. Ignis chopped the fruit so rapidly that were he any other man, Gladio would fear he’d lose a fingertip.

Ignis set aside the chopped fruit, washing and drying his hands thoroughly before unbuttoning the cuffs of his pin-striped dress shirt, folding the sleeves back out of his way before he began measuring out sugar and flour.

Gladio’s mouth watered. It had nothing to do with the preparations of what looked to be an amazing dessert, and everything to do with the way the muscles of Ignis’s forearms played beneath his pale skin while he worked.

Okay, seriously, no man should be this sexy while baking. But Ignis moved with such assurance in the kitchen, each measurement so exact, each stir made with precision. It was a fucking work of art.

As Gladio watched, Ignis finished forming what looked to him to be a sort of pie crust, popping it into the oven and setting a timer. He thought maybe that would give Ignis some time to relax, but apparently there was more prep to be done while the crust baked. Gladio didn’t really try to figure out what all was happening in the kitchen. But he sure enjoyed watching.

“Need any help?” he belatedly asked, pretty sure his offer would be rejected, but figuring it was only polite to volunteer.

“Yes, actually.” Ignis crooked a finger, beckoning.

Gladio went to him like a moth to a fucking flame.

“Taste this,” Ignis said, setting aside his hand-mixer and swiping his finger through a creamy mixture, offering it up to Gladio with a smirk. “I need to know if it’s too sweet. It should complement the fruits, not overwhelm them.”

Gladio heard ‘taste’, ‘sweet’, and ‘overwhelm’.

Fuck.

He reached out to wrap his hand around Iggy’s wrist and bring the other man’s hand closer, but Ignis pulled his hand away playfully, arching a brow in mock remonstrance.

_Fuck_.

Accurately guessing what his lover was going for, Gladio leaned forward and flicked his tongue against the cream-coated finger. He swirled it around the digit in a lewd imitation of a far more intimate act, getting a thorough taste of the mixture.

Ignis drew his hand back, verdant gaze rich with amusement, a light flush dusting his cheekbones. “Well? How is it?”

“Hm,” Gladio considered, a sly look gleaming in eyes of molten amber. “Think I need a better taste.”

The timer shrilled out, cutting through the mounting tension, and both men laughed at the interruption. Ignis took the crust from the oven and turned off the appliance, explaining, “It needs time to cool before I can finish assembling the tart.”

“Enough time for me to get a good taste?” Gladio growled, moving closer, towering over the shorter man.

“Quite.” Ignis scooped some of the vanilla cream from the mixing bowl into a smaller vessel, snagging a handful of fresh berries as well. He started walking the short distance from the kitchenette to the table, shooting a heated look over his shoulder at Gladio in nonverbal summons.

Gladio followed him willingly, those few steps across the room taking far too long. Gods, he wanted to get his hands on Ignis.

To his surprise, Ignis jumped up to sit on the edge of the table, spreading his long legs and setting the bowl of cream and berries on the vee of tabletop bookended by his knees.

“Unbutton my shirt,” Ignis said boldly, and Gladio felt his cock twitch at his lover’s command.  
He may have torn more buttons than he managed to tug through the tiny buttonholes, but hell, he’d buy Iggy a new shirt. A dozen new shirts.

Ignis swiped two fingers through the vanilla cream and trailed it over his chest, his eyes burning into Gladio’s, an arrogant smirk curling his lips. He reached out and cupped Gladio’s chin in his other hand, tipping his lover’s face up to make sure he was watching. Gladio could tell that Ignis was under no illusions about how badly Gladio wanted him at that moment.

Gladio didn’t wait for further directions. He leaned forward, balancing his hands on either side of Ignis’s hips, and laved his tongue over the other man’s exposed chest, enjoying the way Ignis’s flesh tensed and shivered beneath his mouth.

“Mm,” he growled into the smooth expanse of Ignis’s stomach, tongue teasingly dipping into his belly button. “Still not sure this tastes right, Iggy.”

Ignis quirked an eyebrow. “Unbutton my pants.”

Like Gladio needed any encouragement on that front.

When he unsnapped the clasp and tugged the zipper down, he was rewarded with the sight of Ignis’s fully erect cock springing free.

Oh, _fuck_ , he loved it when Iggy went commando. It didn’t happen often, and it was a decadent surprise on each rare occasion when it did.

Gladio couldn’t help himself. He took Ignis in hand, managing a few good strokes before Ignis batted his hand away with a chuckle.

“So demanding, Gladiolus.” Ignis tsked.

“You’re one to talk.”

They looked at each other with an equal mixture of amusement and arousal for a long, quiet moment, before Ignis began to speak again.

“Do you really need me to spell out the rest for you?”

Now it was Gladio’s turn to smirk, to tease. “Yeah, Iggy. You’re the strategist.” He rested his hands on Ignis’s hips, leaning in for a kiss, murmuring against his lover’s lips, “I just follow orders.”

Ignis’s pupils were blown wide, the slimmest ring of green visible as Gladio focused on his face, wanting to watch his elegant mouth form each forthcoming word.

The tactician slid back farther on the table, taking the bowl with him. Somehow he managed to shed his clothing as he moved, and Gladio moaned when he saw the careless way it was tossed aside. When Ignis had centered himself, he laid back, pillowing an arm beneath his head. His other hand was busy, spreading the vanilla cream in scattered trails over his chest, his stomach, placing a few berries in seemingly random spots. With a lascivious grin, he coated his erection with the mixture, then dropped his arm to the side.

“Eat up, my love,” Ignis purred.

Oh _fuck_ yes.

Gladio made sure to take his time, first claiming each of the berries, playfully passing one into Ignis’s mouth with a tender kiss. He licked the sweet vanilla off of his lover’s chest thoroughly, laving over the sculpted plains and angles slowly, tracing the faint lines of the other man’s abs, teasingly mouthing at his nipples with just the barest edge of teeth.

He was far too impatient to drag this out terribly long, though.

Gladio was tall enough that when he knelt, his head was just above the edge of the table. So he slid his hands under Ignis’s hips and dragged him forward until his legs hung off the edge, resting on Gladio’s shoulders.

He feasted.

Gladio had always enjoyed the feel of Ignis in his mouth, his lover’s unique taste, not minding the slight bitterness imparted from the other man’s coffee addiction. While the addition of the sweet confection was hardly necessary, he wasn’t gonna complain. The mingled flavors of Ignis’s cock, the pre-come freely leaking from it’s tip, and the sugary vanilla was exquisite.

He heard Ignis moan, voice breaking, and saw the way the hand not pillowed beneath his head curled tautly around the table’s edge.

“ _Gladiolus_ ,” the strategist’s voice hissed out between clenched teeth. “Oh, _Six_.”

Gladio drew his mouth off Ignis’s cock with an obscene sounding pop. “Okay, I think I’ve tasted enough. Needs more vanilla,” he said ever so helpfully.

Ignis pushed himself to be half sitting, staring at Gladio wide-eyed, chest heaving as if he’d just tried to outrun a charging behemoth.

The two men engaged in a silent contest of wills, eyes irrevocably locked. Gladio had no problem letting Iggy keep steering the afternoon if he wanted to, but if he knew Ignis, it was becoming more difficult for the other man to use his words, let alone be commanding.

Gladio watched as Ignis caught his lower lip in his teeth, worrying at the delicate flesh, eyes hazy and unfocused. Finally, the advisor spoke, just above a whisper.

“ _Please_.”

That was all the Shield wanted to hear. He dove back in with abandon, swallowing as much of Ignis as he could, forcing his mouth forward until his nose was buried in pubic hair. Gladio reached down to palm himself through his pants with a groan, his hips thrusting forward to grind against his own hand.

His love didn’t last long after that, and Gladio kept working his mouth through Ignis’s climax, not relenting until he heard the other man’s cries of passion ebb away into protests of over-stimulation. Gladio drew back and laid his cheek against the softness of Ignis’s inner thigh, staring up at the vision of debauchery before him, seeing the sweat slicked over Ignis’s skin, watching the way the tactician struggled to catch his breath.

It didn’t take Gladio long to follow Ignis over that edge, his voice rasping out his lover’s name as he did.

As they enjoyed the afterglow, Gladio couldn’t help but laugh.

“This… is a good recipe.”

Ignis laughed so hard Gladio thought he saw tears bead at the corners of his eyes, and that warmed his heart more than he could say.

In a world torn by war, when each day could be their last, Gladio was grateful they could share moments like these. It gave him something beyond duty to fight for. Something to live for.

Gladio kissed Ignis, sharing the remnants of vanilla and come still coating his tongue, and when he felt Ignis smile against his lips, his heart soared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone's curious, this is the recipe Ignis is cooking: https://ethnicspoon.com/french-patisserie-fruit-tart/
> 
> I've never made it, and searched it out specifically for this chapter, but now I kinda want to make it because it looks delicious.
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day, if you care to leave any! <3
> 
> I know I've updated a lot the past few days, but that's gonna slow down since I travel tomorrow and then go back to work. But in the meantime, I encourage you to check out my other stories, and tell me what you think of them! :D


	5. You're MINE!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gladio helps Ignis with his glove.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this chapter wouldn't even exist, let alone make an iota of sense, if not for the amazing calamityera. Go give her stories some love, she's ridiculously talented.
> 
> A little warning that this chapter has BDSM. Mostly the D/s part of that acronym, but, if that's not your jam, this is your chance to close the tab.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent rather domestically. Gladio snagged a shower while Ignis put the finishing touches on his dessert. Then they traded places, Ignis enjoying the luxury of running water while Gladio sprawled out on the bed with one of those romance novels the younger boys liked to tease him about. When Ignis finished washing up, he joined Gladio on the bed, the two men leaning against each other comfortably, Gladio reading his book and Ignis scrawling in his recipe notebook.

It was simple. It was quiet.

It was _perfection_.

Gladio wished the day could last forever. Moments like this were so fleeting, so rare. But, he knew that was but a dream, and their duty was the reality. He took solace in the thought that someday their adventures would be complete, Noctis would ascend the throne with Lunafreya at his side, and the worst Gladio would have to worry about was growing bored during Council meetings.

Just like old times.

Ignis coughed, and the sound was painfully self-conscious. Fuck, how could a man put so much nuance into a gods-damned _cough_?

“It appears I was rather single-mindedly focused on dessert,” Ignis’s murmur was ruefully apologetic. “Noctis and Prompto should be joining us for dinner shortly, and I have nothing to offer them that contains actual nutritional value, aside from the fresh fruit I planned to use as garnish on the tart.”

Gladio chuckled. He didn’t bother with a bookmark and just dog-eared the page he was on.

Ignis’s wince at the way he was treating the paperback almost made him feel guilty, but eh, he’d already folded over so many pages it wasn’t like it was in pristine condition.

“Iggy. They have a full restaurant right here at the Leville. Why not let someone else do the cooking for a change?”

Ignis sighed. He was being a bit dramatic, Gladio thought fondly. “Perhaps you’re right. Astrals know, we can afford it, thanks to our recent hunts.” He rose, moving around the room with an economy of motion, gathering his wallet and his phone, sliding on his shoes and jacket. “The four of us can reconvene here after dinner and eat the tart while we plan for tomorrow.”

Gladio nodded. “Sure, Iggy.” He figured the post-dinner discussion would mostly be Ignis explaining his already meticulously crafted plan while Noct and Prom played King’s Knight, but he wasn’t gonna object. While he treasured the stolen moments alone with his partner, he didn’t mind hanging out with the twerps either.

And, speak of the fuckwits and who would appear. A lazy knock at the door was eclipsed by Prompto’s excited greeting.

“Hey, guys! I’m hungry!”

Gladio saw Ignis’s lips curve in a fond smile as the Royal Advisor moved with alacrity to open the door.

“Highness. Prompto.” Ignis inclined his head briefly to each of them in greeting.

Gladio managed to keep a straight face in light of his boyfriend’s suddenly fussy, prim attitude.

“There’s been a slight change of plans, I’m afraid.” Ignis paused, sliding his glasses off his face and polishing the lenses in what they all knew was a clear stalling tactic. “I seem to have forgotten to procure ingredients for dinner. Gladio suggested we dine at the hotel restaurant instead, if that sounds amenable to you both.” Ignis put his spectacles back on, adjusting them until they sat just right on the bridge of his nose.

“Sure, Igster!”

“You… forgot?”

Prompto’s cheer almost overwhelmed Noct’s bewilderment, but not entirely.

Gladio saw Ignis blush, and the tiny slide of Ignis’s fingers against each other in consternation was the equivalent of full-out flailing in lesser men.

“I’m terribly sorry, Noctis.” If possible, Ignis’s posture grew even more rigid and proper.

“Eh,” Noct waved a hand dismissively. “I’m sure the restaurant is fine. It’s just weird, you forgetting something…” he trailed off, his cerulean gaze going almost comically wide as the realization hit him. “Oh, _fuck me_. With Titan’s fucking monster-cock. Oh, _gods_.”

Gladio lost it at that point, laughing so hard he bowed forward, bracing his hands against the couch so he didn’t fall over.

“Language, Highness,” Ignis said drily, the timbre of his voice a stark contrast to the blush darkening his cheeks.

“Huh?” Prompto seemed confused, looking back and forth between Noctis and Ignis several times, occasionally darting glances at the cracking-up Gladio.

Noctis slung an arm around Prompto and steered him out the door, muttering, “Maybe they sell brain bleach at the gift shop.”

The wise-cracking continued much to Ignis’s outward dismay and Gladio’s unabashed delight. 

Gladio thought Ignis enjoyed it too, despite the curmudgeonly facade he wrapped around himself like a cloak. The foursome enjoyed a good dinner - not as good as Iggy’s cooking, of course, Gladio thought loyally - and eventually wandered back upstairs to the suite Ignis had procured for half their party.

Gladio was right. It took less than thirty seconds for the kids to whip out their phones and fall into a gamer-coma.

Fuck, it took even less time for Ignis to seek refuge in the small kitchenette, focused on putting the finishing touches on the dessert, skillfully garnishing each portion with just enough fresh berries to give a delightful pop of color without overwhelming the elegance of the dish.

Gladio shrugged and plopped down on the edge of the bed, since the chuckleheads were hogging the couch, and the small armchair was not designed with a man of his girth in mind. He idly flipped through news sites on his phone, distracted by the near-continuous bursts of laughter from the younger men, and by the sounds coming from the kitchen.

When Ignis walked out and handed Noctis and Prompto their portions, Gladio had to smile at the mothering way Ignis encouraged them not to spill any crumbs or get the sticky cream on their phones.

However, when Ignis offered Gladio his serving, the large man sat up and took notice.

Ignis extended the small bowl to Gladio with a graceful incline of his tall frame, and Gladio’s eyes were drawn to the elegant lines of the lithe man’s arms. He saw that the wrist strap of Ignis’s right glove was unsnapped, displaying the delicate flesh of his inner-wrist to Gladio’s regard.

Gladio knew just what that meant. _Fuck_.

“Thanks, Iggy,” his bass voice rumbled. He didn’t take the dessert right away, but first trailed his fingertips over that exposed skin while making deliberate eye contact. He carefully re-snapped the closure on Ignis’s glove, and gave the other man’s hand a warm squeeze before letting go and taking the proffered tart. Gladio heard the way Ignis’s breath hissed out sharply past clenched teeth and couldn’t help the small smirk that curled his lips. His honey-brown eyes fell half-shut as he watched Ignis saunter away with an extra sway to his slim hips. Gladio ate his dessert slowly, deep in thought.

He and Ignis had established early on in their relationship that they shared a proclivity for BDSM. Ignis was a bit more into the D/s portion of that acronym than Gladio was, but they found ways to make it work. Gladio had found that with Ignis, he didn’t mind taking on a more dominant role outside of the bedroom on occasion, especially when he saw how fucking relaxed it made his love to give over control for a while.

Perhaps most people wouldn’t understand since Ignis came off as such a control-freak in his day to day life, but the tactician relished the opportunity to submit himself to Gladio. It made perfect sense to the Shield. Iggy had to run the fucking show on a daily basis, keep Noct on track, keep so many plates in the air while maintaining the outward appearance of never breaking a sweat. It seemed only natural to Gladio that when Ignis allowed himself an intimate relationship, he wouldn’t want to have to take the lead on that front, too.

At least, not once the trust had been established.

Before embarking on this road trip, Gladio had sat Ignis down and come up with a set of signals that could be employed in the event Ignis got too overwhelmed, too stressed, or fuck, just wanted to express his submission. Gladio was the one who suggested the undone glove-strap, since Ignis bringing out the collar Gladio had gifted him for their one-year anniversary in front of the boys would be terribly inappropriate. As they had done at home, Gladio could snap the strap closed in acceptance of Ignis’s nonverbal request for his dominance, or he could leave it undone if he just wasn’t up for it, or in the right headspace.

Gladio appreciated that Ignis could place such trust in him, and frankly, thought the hard-working man deserved the fucking break that submission gave him. Which again, he knew, may strike others as odd - Ignis lived a _life_ of servitude, for Astrals’ sake. Why would he want to extend subservience into his private life? But his service to the crown was far more stressful and demanding than his service to Gladio.

And for his part, Gladio relished the opportunity to take care of his Ignis, to lavish him with attention, with praise, to put them both through the wringer and bring them through the other side.

There were few pleasures in life Gladiolus Amicitia found more rewarding, more _fucking delectable_ , than taking apart one Ignis Scientia piece by piece, only to lovingly put him back together when they were through.

He finished consuming the tart with small bites, savoring the flavor, wishing Ignis would join him, but knowing that was a lost cause until the man had tidied the kitchenette to his satisfaction.

Oh. _Wait._

Gladio grinned to himself mischievously. Sometimes, being a dominant had its perks.

“Hey, Iggy!” he called out. “C’mere.”

The boys were far too zoned in on King’s Knight to notice the speed with which Ignis obeyed the command phrased as a casual suggestion.

“Yes, Gladio?”

“Sit with me a while.”

Ignis seemed torn for a moment, but it was a brief one. An unexpected smile brightened his features. He dried his hands off with the dishtowel he had draped over his shoulder before sitting close to Gladio, no longer maintaining what he had previously deemed an ‘appropriate distance’ since that proverbial cat was now out of the bag.

Gladio curled an arm around the slender man’s waist, tugging him even closer. He nuzzled his cheek against Ignis’s, and when he spoke it was in a soft, loving tone, his lips tickling the delicate outer shell of the other man’s ear. “Good.”

He saw the way Ignis’s smile shone even more brightly, the way his shoulders lost a little tension and his eyes snapped with a subtle pride, and it made Gladio’s heart happy.

Gladio was content to sit like that, cuddling Ignis in a way appropriate to the fact they weren’t alone, the two older men watching their friends obliviously lost in their game. It was nice, Gladio thought, to see Noct and Prom getting to be kids sometimes. For all that they weren’t actually children anymore, enough of their childhoods had been stolen away by obligation and duty - particularly that of Noctis.

Ignis seemed equally happy with the current situation, leaning his head on Gladio’s shoulder, verdant eyes half-lidded and lazy. “This is nice,” he said softly, as if he was concerned words would break the beauty of the moment.

Gladio enfolded one of Ignis’s hands in his, running his thumb back and forth over that glove strap. “Yeah. It really is, “he agreed, turning to press a tender kiss to Ignis’s temple.

“Ugghhhh.” Noctis had apparently looked up from his game just in time to see the sweet gesture. “Get a room.”

Gladio borrowed from Ignis’s repertoire and arched an eyebrow scathingly. “Dude… you’re _in_ our room.”

Prompto giggled, still button-mashing on his phone. “Noct, you need to focus, I’m kicking your ass, buddy!” His violet-blue eyes were determinedly staring at his screen. “Actually, keep getting distracted.”

“Fuck you, Prom,” Noct groaned, and tried to regain some of the ground he had lost.

Gladio and Ignis both watched as the younger men leaned forward, stabbing at their phone screens intently. Gladio half expected Noctis’s Armiger to manifest around the young Prince, so focused was he on the electronic battle at hand.

So distracted by the amusing spectacle wrought by Prompto and Noctis was he, that Gladio startled noticeably when he felt Ignis lay soft lips against the side of his neck.

He melted. Iggy wasn’t big on PDA, but tended to do it more readily when he was in his submissive headspace. It was as if he didn’t care what people thought when he fell into his role.

He knew Gladio would defend him against any naysayers.

The four stayed that way long enough that while Gladio continued to enjoy the proximity to his beloved, he began to chafe at the boredom of just watching other people tap at their phones. 

Fuck, he wanted more from Ignis than stolen kisses. Peeking at his watch, he saw the hour was growing late, and it was pretty obvious there was zero strategizing going on this evening, so he made the executive decision to kick the brats out for the night.

“Alright, kids, time to pack it in.”

Noctis heaved a heavy sigh.

Prompto immediately protested. “But we’re almost to the boss!”

Gladio untangled himself from Ignis and stood, crossing tattooed arms across his wide chest. “Get the fuck out.”

“Gladio,” Ignis tsked quietly, but Gladio could tell his partner was fighting back a laugh.

Gladio grinned broadly at both of his younger friends, and his voice was laden with promise when he spoke again. “You can leave, or you can watch what I’m about to do to Iggy.”

Noctis warped out of the room in brilliant blue flash.

Prompto yelped and scrambled out the door, shouting for Noct.

Ignis rose to his feet, and looked at Gladio with an inquisitive mien. “And what, darling, are you about to do to me?”

Gladio’s grin bled from raunchy bravado into tenderness. “I’m going to undress you, tuck you into bed, and cuddle you until you fall asleep.”

Ignis blushed, ducking his head adorably. Now that their friends were gone, it was clear that his lover no longer felt the need to feign stoicism in the face of Gladio’s doting behavior. “As you wish.”

Gladio swept him up in his arms and carried him into the bedroom, and did everything he had promised.

They perhaps spent more time than was prudent lost in their embrace, sharing sweet kisses and whispered words of devotion, but Gladio thought they had earned it.

When they tumbled into sleep, they were wrapped in each other’s arms, and Gladio wasn’t sure which was the dream and which was reality.

 

The next morning, Ignis woke up before Gladio, as was his norm. He didn’t hasten to get up, though - what sane man would be in a rush to leave the warm safety of Gladio’s embrace?

Ignis treasured these quiet moments of privacy. He was free to just stare unabashedly and unashamed at his beloved, who was still deep in sleep.

Brushing an errant lock of dark hair back from Gladio’s face, Ignis traced the ghost of a kiss across his lover’s forehead, before easing back and just feasting his eyes upon the fine specimen of manhood that was Gladiolus Amicitia.

He was certainly pleasant to look at, Ignis mused, delicately trailing the tips of his fingers over Gladio’s exposed chest, following the lines of his intricate tattoo. Even more wondrous when you got past the well-muscled exterior and plumbed the depths within, learning all the nuances of his personality.

One didn’t expect a Shield to necessarily be intelligent, beyond a certain battlefield expertise. 

One certainly didn’t expect a bodyguard to be so well-read, such a patron of the arts, such a devoted big brother.

One certainly didn’t expect a veritable wall of muscle to be so excruciatingly gentle.

Ignis smiled to himself, thinking back fondly to his lover’s tenderness the night before. While Ignis had been expecting something entirely different when he launched his glove-strap salvo, he was certainly not disappointed in the slightest.

Gladio always knew exactly what he needed.

Despite the best of intentions, Ignis couldn’t keep his hands off his partner. He felt Gladio begin to rouse towards wakefulness as Ignis softly caressed a fingertip down the length of the long scar carving a line down one side of Gladio’s face.

“Mornin’, babe,” Gladio’s voice was a husky purr so close to waking, and Ignis loved the sound almost as much as he treasured the opportunity to be able to enjoy it.

“Good morning.” Ignis brushed a tender kiss against one side of Gladio’s neck. He grinned when he felt Gladio tug him closer, emerald eyes dancing with delight when they latched on to those of amber.

“Sleep well?”

“Indeed.”

The need for words was lost on them both as they lazily made love, the physical act a reaffirmation of their mutual devotion.

When they were drawn out of the afterglow by the strident sound of Ignis’s phone receiving a text, the Royal Advisor felt himself feeling uncharacteristically irritated at the interruption. He quickly squashed the emotion, reminding himself of his duty. Checking the message, he informed Gladio, “Noct woke up early, it seems, and is asking about breakfast.”

Gladio nodded, climbing out of bed and heading towards the shower. He didn’t bother to pull on any clothing for the short walk, and Ignis certainly didn’t mind, drinking in the view of his lover’s naked, ludicrously well-muscled form with undisguised admiration.

And Gladio certainly noticed, if his cocky grin was any indication. “Lay out what we need, yeah?”

Ignis’s eyes widened fractionally, and he thought back to the night before.

Gladio hadn’t unstrapped his gloves before tugging them free of his fingers.

By the guidelines they had established, Ignis was still Gladio’s to command.

Oh, _Six_.

The sound of the shower turning on brought Ignis back from his momentary reverie. Shaking his head in amusement at how easily Gladio could distract him, Ignis began to move about the suite, gathering up the detritus from their stay, pulling out clean clothes for them both before repacking the remainder of their belongings.

He was finished before Gladio emerged from the shower, so he took the liberty of going online on his phone and booking a table for the four of them to share a quick breakfast down in the hotel restaurant. Eating on premises would certainly expedite their day considerably.

With nothing else to do but wait his turn for his morning ablutions, Ignis was feeling a bit at a loss. He had done what little Gladio had asked of him, and gone beyond, tidying up their room.

When inspiration struck, Ignis wore a very self-satisfied smile.

With nothing left to do but wait for Gladio, perhaps he could help expedite matters by joining him?

It would quite obviously have the opposite effect on their schedule, but Ignis figured Noctis would welcome the extra time to either catch a nap or play phone games with Prompto.

Gladio had left the bathroom door half-open, ostensibly to keep the room from steaming up, so it was no difficulty at all for a man with Ignis’s talents to slip in unnoticed. He hadn’t a death wish, though, so he made sure to speak up before he stepped into the shower, having learned long ago that it simply wasn’t prudent to catch the Shield entirely unaware.

“Hello.” Simple, but effective enough for his purposes.

Ignis paused until he heard Gladio’s customary “Hey, Iggy”, then stepped into the tub, molding his body against the slick planes of his lover’s powerful form.

“Mm… that’s nice,” Gladio’s bass rumble was even lower than usual, the unmistakable tinge of lust coloring his timbre despite their earlier morning activities.

Reaching out, Ignis found the shampoo bottle and poured a generous amount into his hand before he began scrubbing his fingers through Gladio’s thick hair, massaging his scalp lingeringly, making the act into more of a caress than a cleansing.

Gladio’s hand shot out and unerringly went to Ignis’s cock, giving a firm stroke from base to tip, drawing a low moan from his boyfriend. Ignis’s hands faltered a moment in their task.

Of course Gladio noticed, drat the man. “Didn’t say you could stop. Get back to it.”

 _Bless_ the man.

It was an exercise on Ignis’s normally iron-resolve to finish thoroughly washing the other man’s hair while Gladio’s hand slid relentlessly over Ignis’s erection. He couldn’t stop himself from thrusting into his lover’s hand, but knew Gladio never minded the outward signs of Ignis’s loss of self-control when it came to their private time together.

His guess was confirmed when Gladio spoke again. “You like that, yeah?” He twisted his hand cunningly to swipe a thumb across the weeping tip of Ignis’s cock, eliciting a gasp from his lover. “I think my hair’s clean enough.”

When Ignis gasped out a ‘yes’, he wasn’t sure which statement he was responding to. Both? 

Thinking was becoming a challenge.

Gladio’s quiet chuckle centered him. He felt the larger man’s hands close on this biceps, pushing downward, and Ignis acceded to the nonverbal signal, sinking fluidly to his knees on the shower floor. He looked up at Gladio, caressing his hands up the man’s powerfully built legs. Ignis caught his lower lip in his teeth and felt a blush stain his cheeks crimson, and he had to struggle to keep his chin raised.

He knew how Gladio loved to watch.

Gladio removed one hand from Ignis’s arm and fisted it in the kneeling man’s hair after tenderly pushing an errant lock away from those hazy emerald eyes.

Ignis hardly needed the direction given by the tug in his hair, but he pliantly leaned forward, engulfing Gladio’s cock as best he could. When he reached the point of no return, unable to fight his gag reflex thoroughly enough to take on his lover’s entire prodigious length, he raised a hand to curl around the base of Gladio’s shaft.

A surprised yelp escaped his lips, muffled against Gladio, when Ignis felt the hand in his hair tug sharply. He angled his head, peering upward, trying to see Gladio’s face.

“No hands.”

Ignis felt something tighten low in his belly, and knew his own cock had to be weeping all over the tub floor by now. He removed his hand from Gladio’s cock and took the command a step farther, crossing his wrists at the small of his back, knowing the deliberate positioning would both serve as a reminder to himself of the instruction given, and give Gladio a delightful visual.

“Fuck yeah, just like that, Iggy,” Gladio’s moaned words were welcome music to Ignis’s ears as he continued to skillfully work his mouth and tongue against Gladio.

When Gladio tugged on the hair at the back of his head, Ignis relaxed his mouth and slid off his cock with a wet popping sound. Looking up curiously at Gladio, Ignis dragged his tongue across his lips in a lingering motion, making a pleased noise low in his throat at the taste Gladio had left behind.

“ _Fuck_.” The expletive was almost reverent as Gladio stared transfixed at the sight before him. “You’re so gods-damned gorgeous.”

“My thanks, Gladiolus.”

It was another one of their rules that Ignis was not to default to stereotypical forms of address such as ‘Sir’ or ‘Master’.

Gladio wanted to hear his own fucking name at times like these.

Ignis watched as Gladio shut off the water and almost tore the shower curtain off it’s hooks.

“Get on the bed,” Gladio’s voice was rough with impatience, but his hands were gentle when he helped Ignis step out of the tub.

After Ignis had climbed onto the bed, however, Gladio’s hands were anything but gentle.

Strong hands gripped his hips, already beginning to turn him over, when Gladio rumbled, “Get on your fucking hands and knees. Now.”

Ignis didn’t bother with words, but assumed the desired position, arching his back and offering up an ass that he desperately hoped was about to be thoroughly fucked.

“Fucking Astrals, _yes_ ,” Gladio breathed in approval behind him, and the flush coloring Ignis’s face had nothing to do with embarrassment or shame now.

Ignis felt a hand slide along the curve of his spine from the nape of his neck to the bump of his tailbone once, twice. Again, and again. He could feel a tremor working its way through his body and despite a valiant effort, couldn’t hold it back. It grew into a full-body shiver as Gladio continued his languid caresses. Ignis imagined he could feel the heat of Gladio’s gaze caressing every inch of his naked, lewdly-posed form, and it made him whimper in ways he would have sworn he’d never drop his dignity far enough to do.

Before Gladio.

“Please,” Ignis said, his voice breathy, strung out with desire.

“Please, what?” Gladio’s tone with rife with wicked amusement.

Ignis moaned and deepened the arch of his back, widened the spread of his thighs. “Gladio, don’t make me say it,” he pleaded.

“Say it,” a growl in his ear, so close that Gladio’s hot breath washed over Ignis’s face, and he trembled anew.

Ignis keened, hanging his head, struggling. He knew Gladio enjoyed having him speak during their intimate acts. He also knew Gladio was well-aware of how challenging it was for Ignis to push past his natural reserve and be so… candid.

But this was something Ignis could do for Gladio.

Six take his pride. It had no place here.

“Please, Gladiolus,” he beseeched, rolling his eyes to the side in an effort to catch a glimpse of his beloved’s face. “Fuck me. Mark me. _Claim me_.”

Ignis’s words were interrupted by the feel of a hand on his cock, squeezing, and he nearly wept at the touch, he was so overwrought with need.

“Unmake me,” he tried to say, but the words were lost as Gladio slid two fingers into him without warning.

When Gladio had managed to coat his hand in lube, Ignis couldn’t say, but he was grateful for it. 

With a debauched moan, he pushed back against the fingers, wanting more, always more.

Always Gladiolus.

“Please, please,” Ignis repeated as if chanting, his nimble fingers tangled in the bed linens, head thrown back.

“Patience,” Gladio purred, and Ignis knew his lover would never be so irresponsible as to rush his preparation, but by all the Astrals, sometimes Ignis wanted him to.

Ignis felt a third finger push into him and bit his lip hard enough he tasted the coppery tang of blood.

It only aroused him more.

“Gladio!” Ignis’s voice was stark with longing, free of any false artifice or masks in this moment. 

“Gladio, _please_!”

After one final scissoring of his fingers, Gladio withdrew his hand, wiping it on the sheets. “Gods, you want it badly. Iggy, we just fucked a couple hours ago.”

Ignis didn’t care. “Want you,” he gasped, pushing back in hopes his ass would meet Gladio’s cockhead. “Need you.” Turning, Ignis flashed a smoldering look over his shoulder at his lover. 

“I’m yours, Gladiolus. Always yours.”

That was enough to erode the final layer of Gladio’s patience, and he thrusted into Ignis in one smooth motion, the careful prep enabling him to sheath himself completely in his partner with no difficulty. Gladio leaned forward, pressing the front of his body against the plains of Ignis’s back. He sank his teeth into the juncture of Ignis’s neck and shoulder, sucking hard, causing Ignis to almost shout.

“You’re MINE!” Gladio growled directly into the other man’s ear.

Then he began to move.

Gladio started with short, shallow thrusts, but couldn’t hold back for long. Soon he was railing into Ignis with all his strength, and the way Ignis screamed his name, _Gladiolus, Gladiolus_ , over and over, well, it just flat did it for Gladio.

Ignis did his best to rock back in mirroring rhythm but, Six, it was all he could do to remember to breathe. When Gladio raked the blunt edges of his nails up Ignis’s side, he exhaled sharply.

When that hand curled around the his throat _just this side_ of too tightly, he was lost. Ignis came hard, his wrecked voice trying to form Gladio’s name in the moment. His blissed-out mind had no clue if he succeeded.

Gladio bit him again, this time on the back of his neck, leaving a mark that could be easily obscured by Ignis’s hair, but would be readily visible to his eyes over the next few days if he just brushed that hair aside. It only took a few more thrusts for Gladio to orgasm, and he did so with a husky, wordless cry.

He was already leaning against Ignis, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to collapse fully atop him.

Ignis didn’t mind in the slightest.

“So…” Gladio said after they cuddled in a sweaty pile for a few minutes. “I need another shower.”

“Perhaps this time, you should shower alone,” Ignis suggested helpfully, voice still hazy with the remnants of their sex.

Gladio laughed. “No kidding."

It didn’t take long for both men to get cleaned up and dressed, though Gladio halted Ignis before he could put on his gloves.

Ignis looked at Gladio with an inquisitive smile. A moment later, emerald eyes shot wide when Gladio very deliberately pulled on one Ignis’s gloves and secured the strap with an audible snap.

It seemed Gladiolus wasn’t ready to relinquish control.

Ignis gathered his things with his face wreathed in a beatific smile, and he wondered for what must be the hundredth time that day how he’d gotten so gods-damned lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really hard for me to post. I would greatly appreciate any feedback you feel moved to offer. Thank you for reading! <3


	6. Interlude: Noctis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noctis goes fishing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter only words because calamityera is best beta. <3
> 
> Little bit of angst but fear not, it gets better. <3

Noctis stared drowsily out the window of the Regalia, not really paying much attention to the scenery, but feeling too tired to pull out his phone and play a game. That morning they had gotten a late start, and Ignis had been quite insistent that they get on the road as soon as possible after eating a rather spartan breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Noctis wasn’t entirely sure what the big hurry was - they had to have finally gotten through all the hunts around Lestallum, right? But Ignis seemed as immovable as if he’d been Stoned. It was a bit ironic how exhausting it was to sit still all day, but, it was what it was.

“We’re almost there,” Ignis announced, causing Prompto to cheer and Gladio to look up from his book.

For his part, Noctis sat up and glanced through the windshield.

Galdin Quay? Why had Ignis driven so hard to bring them _here_?

With a puzzled frown, Noctis raised his question aloud.

Ignis’s answer sounded almost apologetic. “I know we just enjoyed a couple idle days in Lestallum, but, I thought one more day of rest was in order before we resumed our journey.”

Canting his head to one side, Noctis said, “I don’t disagree, Specs, but why here? Why not just stay in Lestallum?”

Ignis’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, and it was Gladio who replied for him.

“Good fishing here, Prince Charmless.”

Noctis blinked in surprise. He knew his friends merely tolerated his tedious hobby. For Ignis - and Gladio too, it seemed - to make time in their busy schedule so that Noct could enjoy his favorite past time…

The Prince turned abruptly to look out the window again, blinking tears away from azure eyes. 

Realizing he should probably reply, he offered up a nonchalant, “Cool.”

Fortunately, despite the late hour, Ignis was able to find a parking spot without difficulty, and soon the four young men were strolling down the docks towards the Galdin Quay resort. The clever tactician, who should have apparently been an accountant in another life, had shocked them all by confirming he had enough gil to secure them a room at the luxurious floating hotel - but only one room, this time, so it would be close-quarters.

Prompto took several snapshots of the sunset, whistling in appreciation of the beautiful panorama of water gilded by the fading light. “Wow! This place is so romantic!”

Gladio snorted out a laugh. “And you get to enjoy it with _us_.”

Noctis had to join in on teasing his best friend, his timbre suggestive. “All _three_ of us.”

As always, Ignis had the last, sassiest words, delivered in a sardonic purr. “ _You_ … are a lucky man.”

Prompto groaned and shook his head, quickly dissolving into giggles. “You _guys_!”

Noctis felt a smile tug at his lips, and he allowed it to flourish fully, cerulean eyes glowing with warmth. He did enjoy eliciting such reactions in Prompto. Sure, it was easy to do, but so rewarding every time.

Deciding not to dwell on the increase to his heart rate staring at Prompto had wrought, Noct summoned his fishing pole from his Armiger. “Sunset is a great time for fishing,” he didn’t bother trying to feign disinterest, and his voice was suffused with rarely heard excitement. “Sunrise too, so Specs, you’ll be happy, I’ll be up before noon tomorrow.”

“Will wonders never cease?”

Noct rolled his eyes.

“I’ll go arrange for the room, shall I?” Ignis suggested, verdant gaze flickering to meet Gladio’s a moment before settling on Noctis.

“Sounds good,” Noctis agreed.

“Alright, Princess, let’s go find that fishing spot.”

“I’m gonna go get a few shots of the sunset!” Prompto exclaimed before taking off down the pier.

Noctis and Gladio walked in companionable silence down the dock until Noctis found a spot he wanted to try. He cast his line with practiced ease, sinking down to settle cross-legged on the smooth wooden planks, a relaxed sigh escaping him as the calm of the moment washed over him.

The weeks since leaving Insomnia had been a never-ending barrage of activity, of emotional turmoil, of fighting for their lives. These past few days, while restful, had brought about even more changes, and Noctis hadn’t really gotten the opportunity to process any of it. Sure, it was positive instead of negative, at least, this time - learning his two oldest friends were involved wasn’t a bad thing - but it made Noct wonder how it would affect things going forward.

For all that Noctis was a 20-year-old, grown-ass man, there was a part of him that was still that lost little boy who lost his mother far too young, who had a father who was too busy for him most of the time.

Gladio and Ignis had been the only true constants in his life for as long as he could remember.

What if they got so wrapped up in each other that they just… forgot him?

Noctis realized he had hooked a fish when the line actually snapped, he had been paying so little attention.

“Dude,” Gladio said in disbelief. “The fuck?”

Noctis felt embarrassment washing over his skin, leaving a blaze of crimson in its wake. With an irritated sound, he dismissed his fishing pole in a flash of azure light.

He turned to face Gladio and opened his mouth to speak, but had no idea how to even have this conversation.

“Just spit it out, kid.” While Gladio’s tone was brusque, it was not unkind.

Noctis exhaled loudly, his entire body shuddering with the force of it, and he locked eyes with the older man. “Don’t laugh,” he said, his voice half warning and half begging.

Gladio nodded, gesturing for Noctis to continue.

“I’m happy for you. Y’know. You and Ignis,” Noctis knew he was going to mangle this, but Shiva’s icy tits, he’d try to make a little sense. “I can see how happy you guys are. I don’t want to get all gross or anything but you’re like…” Noct winced even before he said the cheesy words. “You’re perfect for each other.”

Gladio didn’t mock him as expected. A truly happy smile lit up the large man’s sun-bronzed face, amber eyes glinting in the low light cast by the setting sun. “Thanks, Noct.”

“It’s just…” Noctis trailed off and took a deep breath, spewing out the rest of his thoughts in such a rapid torrent, it would be a wonder if Gladio understood half of it. “I’m afraid you guys won’t have time for me because you have each other and I’m used to having you around. You’re my Shield, my Advisor, I mean, I’m your _job_ , but it’s just a job, and you have each other now, and…”

Noctis decided to shut the fuck up because, by the Six, he sounded like a gods-forsaken five year old whining that Mommy and Daddy weren’t playing with him enough.

Gladio looked at him, stark disbelief painted on his features.

“Fuck, Noct,” he swore, reaching out and clasping a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “I swore an _oath_. Iggy swore an oath. You think we’ll just up and forget that because of a relationship that has been going on for years? Years that we spent devoted to you, might I add.”

“This might be new to you, but it’s not to us,” Gladio rumbled, voice a blend of irritation and… hurt? “We knew when we got involved that you had to come first.”

Gladio let go of Noctis’s shoulder and leaned forward, eyes intense. “But, Astrals, Noctis. You’re our _friend_. We’ll do our sworn duty, but if you think that’s our only motivation here, well, I guess I’ve been a shittier friend to you than I thought.”

“No! Gladio, no, damn, that’s not what I meant!” Noctis realized he was raising his voice, but he couldn’t help it. He was _really_ fucking this up. This was exactly why he didn’t try and express emotions deeper than being excited for a new videogame or feeling tired. Ugh.

“Then what the fuck did you mean?” Gladio growled in frustration.

Noctis looked down. “I already lost Mom, and Dad. Maybe Luna.” He lifted his chin to reinitiate eye contact, hoping his chin wasn’t visibly quivering with the tears he fought to contain. “I don’t wanna lose you and Specs.” He paused and cursed, swiping angrily at his wet cheeks. “But I don’t wanna hold you back.”

When Noctis’s posture straightened now, Gladio could see a hint of the King that he’d someday grow into.

“You two have given up so much for me. Don’t give this up. I know you won’t break your oaths, but damn it, Gladio, prioritize each other.” Noctis grinned. “At least sometimes. Like maybe when Ignis wants to wake me up too early.”

Gladio laughed. “Anything to sleep in, huh?”

“You know it.”

“Heh,” Gladio stretched, diverting his gaze out over the water, tactfully giving Noctis a moment to pull himself back together. “You wanna fish some more?”

“Nah,” Noct demurred. “But, maybe… we could just sit a while?”

“Sure,” Gladio agreed, slinging a friendly arm around Noctis’s slim shoulders.

The two spent several hours talking about everything and nothing, and Noctis made it a personal goal to find time like this with each of his friends as often as he could during the trials to come. He had a purpose, he had a mission, but what point was there in saving a world that didn’t have friendship? Didn’t have love?

As he laughed with Gladio on the pier that night, he realized he would never have to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference (and lulz) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HCJYVYFgEY
> 
> This update pushes me past 100k words published on AO3. Since it's all been done over the last two months please forgive me for being a bit proud. Thanks so much for continuing to read my stuff, and share such wonderful comments! <3


	7. Hard as a Rock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignis and Gladio are thirsty. Noct and Prom are, too, albeit in a different way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> calamityera is to blame for me posting this. She told me it was good. I mean, if there are mistakes, they are mine, completely, but, yeah. 
> 
> This contains consensual BDSM and if that is not your jam that is okay, please backspace now and go read something a bit less kinky. I'm sorry. I can't help where my brain goes sometimes. Love to you all. <3
> 
> Chapters 5 & 7 are also decicated to Ginia, because she was so supportive of my other kinky fic that she deserves more Dom!Gladio and, well... all the rest.

While his friends were off indulging in their respective methods of relaxation, Ignis secured a room for the night. Not even his money-management skills could stretch their gil enough to cover two rooms, but well, he didn’t feel he really had any right to complain, with all the private time he had been able to wrangle recently with Gladio.

Astrals take him, it was never enough.

Ignis was always thirsty for more.

With a small, private smile, he allowed himself the indulgence of lightly tracing the line of his right glove strap, circling the closure with the same teasing attention one might give their lover’s nipple.

And it provoked a similar response in Ignis’s body, heat pooling in his gut. For now his arousal was at a low simmer, and he couldn’t bring himself to feel self-conscious about it.

After all, he was alone.

Ignis glanced around furtively, as if he needed further confirmation of his solitude, and felt his smile slip into a lazy smirk.

Noct could be fishing for _hours_.

Prompto would probably join his best friend once he got bored with taking pictures.

Gladio, almost certainly, would stay at their Prince’s side, until he was no longer alone, and then…

_And then…_

Ignis surprised himself by moaning raggedly, the pad of his teasing finger pressing down firmly on that snap now, pushing the glove’s closure into the sensitive skin of his inner-wrist roughly.

Gods, it was as if he was on fire, and only Gladio could put it out.

A sardonic snicker rolled past his parted lips. Six take him, his thoughts were as cheesy as the lines in his lover’s favorite book.

Ignis paced around the room, the lust uncoiling throughout him causing his steps to be more sinuous than his typical economy of motion allowed for. Slim hips rolled, and he fancied he could still feel Gladio rocking between them. Ignis reached down, palming the bulge of his arousal through the perfectly-pressed fabric of his slacks, and didn’t bother trying to hold back his groan. He bucked his hips, grinding into his hand lewdly.

“Startin’ without me, babe?”

A decisive click announced the door had been locked. Ignis turned to flash a come-hither smirk over his shoulder, deliberately squeezing his cock as he met those smoldering amber eyes.

“And here I thought I was doing you a favor, making sure everything was prepared,” Ignis said, spinning to stride across the room, his hand moving from his groin back to teasing with that slim leather band around his wrist.

Ever observant, Ignis noticed the slight hesitance in Gladio’s eyes, the way worry creased his brow. “Is everything alright, love?”

Gladio sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair absently. “Yeah. I think so.” He narrowed his eyes slightly, and curled his lips in a lascivious grin. “We can talk about it tomorrow.” He moved closer to Ignis, drawing the shorter man against him. “I figure we have a couple hours before they come looking for their beds.”

“So little time,” Ignis tsked. “We’d best make the most of it.”

Gladio growled his agreement against Ignis’s lips as he crashed their mouths together, sliding one hand up to coil tautly against his lover’s scalp.

The minor pain from the tug at his hair only caused Ignis to kiss Gladio back harder, more passionately, in silent entreaty for more.

 _Always_ more.

“I wanna do somethin’ else tonight,” Gladio said a bit abruptly, easing back far enough to make solid eye contact.

“What is it you wish?” Ignis asked, his voice both agreeable and curious. Goodness knows, Gladio had done enough for him, he could certainly accede to whatever request his partner made of him.

“I know you like it when I take charge, yeah?”

Bless him, Gladio sounded self-conscious. Ignis reached up to cup his sun-bronzed cheek affectionately, keeping his expression open and inviting.

“I want…” Gladio trailed off, as if uncertain how to phrase this request. “I want you to…” He sighed. “Fuck me, I sound like Noctis.”

“Spit it out, then,” Ignis quipped, in fair imitation of his beloved.

Gladio laughed, relieved at the momentary break in tension.

“I want you to fuck me.”

Ignis’s eyes widened. Well, _well_. They hadn’t done _that_ in quite a while.

“And I want you to rough me up while you do it.”

To say that a pin could be heard falling in the silence that reigned after those words would be a massive understatement.

Ignis licked his lips slowly, deliberately, before allowing himself to smirk confidently.

“My love, you have but only to ask.” He tapped his glove meaningfully. “This is just another service I can render unto you.” He circled Gladio, eyeing him in consideration. “And one I will _delight_ in performing.”

“Thanks, Iggy,” Gladio muttered, but he seemed to relax now that he’d used his words.

“Take off your clothes and lay on the bed for me, would you?”

Ignis was already removing his shirt as he spoke, his thoughts whirring as he considered the best tactics to employ to render Gladio into a shuddering mass of pleasure.

He had a few ideas.

Not wanting to spare even the few moments it would take, he tossed his clothing in a heap on the floor rather than folding it properly, save for his gloves which remained on. Looking towards the bed, he feasted his eyes on the sight of his lover laid out before him, gloriously naked, already half-hard.

Ignis sauntered over and climbed onto the bed, straddling Gladio’s thighs and grinding their cocks together. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against his partner’s ravenously, letting Gladio taste how much he wanted this.

He felt Gladio’s hands cup his ass, squeezing the firm muscle before sliding up his back, stopping to grip at his shoulders as their tongues and lips slid together in a passionate dance.

Oh, Six, Ignis was going to _enjoy_ this.

 

Gladio practically purred into the kisses. It had been hard for him to ask for something that all his training taught him was to be avoided - not the sex, Astrals no, but he was supposed to defend against being hit, not openly ask for it. From those talks early on in their relationship, though, he knew Ignis wouldn’t mind. In fact, Ignis had admitted to enjoying what he called ‘service topping’ - why should it be different being ordered to give his dominant a blowjob or a beating, Ignis had explained.

As their mouths broke apart, Gladio allowed himself a contented sigh. Gods, he loved this man.

Ignis cradled Gladio's jaw in his gloved hand tenderly, brushing an ardent kiss where the scar bisected his eyebrow. "This time, my Gladiolus," he said, his voice loving. "I've got _you_ ".

It was then that Gladio felt the prick of a knife at the hollow of his throat.

 _Fucking shit_ , he hadn’t even noticed the telltale blue flash of it being summoned forth.

Gladio held himself very still. While he knew that Ignis was an expert with all manner of blades, he certainly wasn’t going to tempt fate by moving more than he had to.

The thought made his breath start to come faster, and his heart thunder in his chest.

Ignis’s clear words momentarily broke the spell his actions had cast. “Your safe-word, darling?”

“Cup Noodles.”

“Splendid.”

Gladio felt the point of that blade trace intricate patterns over his skin, following the lines of his tattoo across his shoulders, his arms and chest, as Ignis slowly eased backwards. Amber eyes rolled back when he felt a leather-clad hand grip his cock, pumping firmly.

"You know how arousing I find your scars, darling," Ignis drawled, lazily tracing the tip of his knife along Gladio's abs. "Shall I give you a new one?"

 _Fuck_.

Gladio whimpered. Ignis knew exactly which buttons to push to turn him into an incoherent mess and Gladio fucking loved it.

“No, that’s not the sort of pain you asked for, was it?” Ignis mused, still teasing the cool steel over Gladio’s exposed flesh. “Another time, perhaps.”

This time, Gladio saw the azure flash as the knife was dismissed to the Armiger. When he saw another glow manifest, he knew it was deliberate on Ignis’s part.

He wanted Gladio to see what he was going to use on him.

The violet-dyed leather riding crop should have come as no surprise. He knew that Ignis preferred the elegance of stinging implements like canes and crops over the heavier thud of floggers and paddles.

At least, when he was the one doing the beating.

“Roll over,” Ignis’s voice rasped.

Gladio shifted position as bid, raising himself up on his hands and knees without prompting.

After all, he was still in control.

If he had to remind himself of that fact a bit, well who could blame him. It was a bit of a mindfuck having a knife to your gods-damned throat when you were the one in charge, alright?

Ignis naturally sensed his momentary internal struggle, leaning down to check in with his lover. 

“Is this all right, Gladio?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Fucking do it already.”

“Yes, sir,” Ignis said, walking around the side of the bed to find a good position.

Gladio smirked. He’d have to remember to punish Ignis for that slip. Later.

Such thoughts were driven completely out of his mind by the sharp kiss of the crop against the curve of his ass.

“Fuck,” he muttered, breathing out loudly. It had been a while. While he knew he wanted this, his body had to remember that he enjoyed it. Those endorphins had to get flowing.

The crop lashed down several more times in rapid succession and Gladio would have admired the precision Ignis employed, never striking the same reddened flesh twice... if he was able to form an intelligent thought. Now it was starting to feel _so good_. He curled his fingers around the blanket roughly, breath panting out rapidly.

“More.”

What followed, Gladio could only remember in a haze. The crop liberally painted his back, his ass, his thighs. Interspersed with the stinging blows were delicate touches by leather-clad fingers, cruelly rubbing over a particularly dark stripe on his ass, or caressing his back lovingly for a moment. Once Ignis managed to pump one hand over Gladio’s cock while still beating him, and Gladio almost lost it right then and there.

“I’ll come if you don’t stop,” Gladio managed to force out coherent words.

“Very well, darling,” Ignis said, and Gladio couldn’t help but curse his own fucking honesty when the fingers uncoiled from his weeping erection.

When Gladio felt something cool pressed against one of his tightly clenched hands, he looked down curiously, an entirely different type of heat curling low in his belly when he saw a bottle of lube.

“If you wouldn’t mind prepping yourself, I’d hate to dirty my gloves.”

Gladio had to laugh. Like those gloves hadn’t seen worse before, and certainly would again. But he didn’t mind reaching back and working his own asshole open if it meant Ignis could keep wrecking him with the intensity of his attention.

The crop was dancing across his shoulder-blades now, the tempo rapid, each strike short, precise, and causing fire to lance straight for Gladio’s cock.

He couldn’t take it anymore. He’d managed three fingers, that would have to be enough.

“Fuck me, Iggy,” he said, trying to make the desperate plea sound more like a command, though he hardly cared at this point.

All he cared about was getting fucked into the mattress until he couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t _breathe_.

After a smattering of parting shots, the crop was banished, and Ignis climbed up on the bed behind Gladio. “Just like this?” he asked considerately, stroking a hand over the swell of Gladio’s ass languidly.

“Yes,” Gladio rumbled, arching his back. “ _Now_.”

When Ignis’s cock slid to the hilt in one smooth motion, Gladio fucking saw stars. He pushed his body back, wanting it all.

And then Ignis began to move.

Gladio knew his voice broke on the very first moan, and Six take him, why should he care? It was amazing. It was a fucking revelation. Why didn’t they do this more often?

That was his last cognizant thought for a very long while.

Ignis took pride in excelling at every task he took on, and railing his boyfriend so well he couldn’t see straight was no exception.

“Touch yourself for me?” Ignis asked, and hell if Gladio would refuse.

He wrapped one large hand around his swollen cock and tried to match his lover’s rhythm, thrusting into his own fingers wantonly, chasing the edge of glory with everything he had.

“‘M close,” he gasped out. “So close, Ig.”

“Good,” Ignis purred in that velvety accent, timbre rich with lust.

When Gladio felt the flat of a blade slide against the side of his neck he came so hard he was momentarily blinded, a strangled, unintelligible roar fighting its way past clenched teeth.

He could feel Ignis put even more force behind his thrusts, feeling free to finish himself off now that Gladio had already come undone. It was just this side of too much for Gladio, but he relished the feel of his beloved wringing every last ounce of pleasure from this moment for them both.

When he heard Ignis keen his name, felt that hot flood shoot deep inside of him, it was almost more than he could take.

After an eternity that in reality was mere seconds, Gladio felt Ignis pull out, and move to lay down beside him.

Gladio took Ignis in his arms tenderly, and laid the softest of kisses against his lips.

“Thank you.”

Ignis seemed surprised, but recovered quickly. “You’re more than welcome.” He smiled, and it such sweet joy filled those verdant eyes that it nearly made Gladio weep. “You’ve only ever to ask, darling.”

They lay entwined, soaking up the afterglow, until Ignis’s phone shrilled out that silly song Prompto sang about chocobos.

It was with a rueful smile that Ignis untangled himself from Gladio, the way the sweat made their bodies stick together making it a little more challenging than usual.

Gladio had to admire the way Ignis could answer the phone so cooly, giving no indication that he’d just fucked his boyfriend’s brains out.

“Prompto?”

A pause.

“No, that’s fine. Gladio and I can fend for ourselves.”

Gladio sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Certainly, Prompto. We’ll see you later.” Ignis hung up and tossed his phone back on the table, turning his attention back to Gladio.

“They’re going to dine at Coctura’s,” Ignis explained. “I thought perhaps we could order room service?”

“Sounds good, Iggy,” Gladio agreed. “Let’s shower first, yeah?”

“Indeed.”

Gladio rose and walked over to the other man. With a gentle kiss, he unstrapped Ignis’s gloves, and tugged the sweat-soaked leather free of his partner’s hands.

 

Ignis was grateful for the luxury of running water as he took his third shower of the day. While Gladio cleaned up, Ignis called a food order to the concierge, and settled in to wait for the delivery, idly tapping at his phone but not really seeing anything.

That had been _intense_.

And if Ignis were feeling this wrecked, how was Gladio faring?

Ignis was no newcomer to BDSM, to be caught up in the physical and ignore the psychological effects such activities could have on those involved. He would give Gladio some space while he completed his shower, but then he planned to heap as much caring attention on the other man as he would tolerate.

And he was grateful to know Gladio would do the same for him.

Ignis didn’t top often, and it always left him with conflicting feelings.

He had spent almost his entire life being trained as an expert care-taker, rigorously molded into suppressing his own desires in favor of fulfilling those of his liege. After joining the Crownsguard that conditioning had expanded to include bodily protecting the Prince from harm at his own expense. Once their road trip took such an unexpected turn the first time they stopped at Galdin Quay, he had broadened that duty to include protecting his friends, much as he knew Gladio had done.

And there was just the romantic notion kept by his tender heart that since he loved Gladiolus so deeply, he should ever strive to shelter the other man, to keep him safe and cherished.

Not lash him hard enough he’d need several elixirs to avoid scarring.

Not put a knife to his throat and fuck him raw.

Don’t you dare fall apart, Ignis cautioned himself, fingers digging into the meat of his thighs as he sat stiffly on the edge of the bed, eyes boring into the room’s door as if he could will their food to appear. He couldn’t break down. He couldn’t. It was his responsibility to take care of Gladio, to soothe his hurts, to cocoon him in loving reassurance.

Despite his best efforts, Ignis felt a hot tear spill down his cheek.

Then another, and another, and then he was all out sobbing, his whole body heaving. He could scarcely catch his breath he was crying so hard. Ignis pressed his hands over his eyes as if could somehow dam the flow of tears, but it was a futile gesture, and his entire posture slumped forward in defeat as he continued to keen.

Oh, fucking Astrals above and below, he knew this. Sub drop. _And_ top drop. Simultaneously, how bloody wonderful.

Typically, sub drop didn’t hit Ignis until a day or so after the fact, but given that he’d been under Gladio’s dominance for almost an entire diurnal cycle, he supposed he was due.

When he felt strong arms wrap protectively around him, the taut muscles still beaded with water from the shower, Ignis’s crying grew even more wretched and he began to babble hoarsely, ducking his face to hide his broken expression.

“I’m sorry, gods, Gladio, so sorry, should be better than this, I’m sorry, I’m failing, oh _Astrals_ ,” his last word was choked off by a violent sob.

Gladio just held Ignis tightly, pressing his cheek against the top of his partner’s head, murmuring reassuring words. He rode out the storm of emotion and brought Ignis through it to the other side, giving him a safe place to vent his turbulent snarl of emotions.

Finally, Ignis was blessedly able to breathe again, to think again. He swiped a hand ineffectually over his tear-stained face before lifting his chin, angling to look at Gladio.

He nearly broke all over again at the look of devoted tenderness carved over the other man’s rugged features, the way love shone so brightly in those molten amber eyes.

“Babe,” Gladio said softly. “It’s been an intense 24 hours, yeah?” He unwound his arms just enough to be able to stroke a hand gently along Ignis’s spine. “I think you needed that.”

“ _You’re_ the one who was beaten,” Ignis protested. “I should be comforting _you_.”

“We both know that was harder for you to deliver than for me to take.”

That was the Gods’ honest truth.

“And hey, I know I gave you our ‘scene over’ signal, but I want you to listen to me anyway,” Gladio continued, hooking a finger under Ignis’s chin to prevent his boyfriend from looking away. “You are _never_ a failure for having feelings, okay?” Gladio smiled. “I’m fucking honored you share them with me. Never stop.”

Ignis’s smile may have wavered a touch, but it was blinding in its joy.

The knock at the door was impeccable in its timing, Ignis thought wryly. He started to stand, when Gladio stopped him with a heavy hand laid on his shoulder.

“I got it, Iggy.”

“All right.”

Ignis had ordered them the Sea’s Bounty Risotto, recalling Gladio’s fondness for the dish when last they visited the Quay.

They sat in companionable silence at the small table in their room, the only conversation simple commentary on the delicious food and idle musings over how their younger companions were faring.

When they finished eating and still Noctis and Prompto hadn’t turned up, Ignis frowned.

“They should have returned by now.”

Gladio pursed his lips. “Shouldn’t be in any danger if they don’t wander off.”

Ignis simply arched a manicured eyebrow in response.

With a heavy sigh, the Shield stood. “You’re right. Let’s go.”

They hastily pulled on some clothing and grabbed their wallets and phones. Leaving the sanctuary of their room, the two royal retainers went off in search of their Prince and his best friend.

It didn’t take them long.

Ignis slapped a hand to his face in mortification, grateful he hadn’t pulled his gloves back on, because that would have hurt.

Gladio cracked up, helpful creature that he was.

They boys were still at Coctura’s, doing their best to perch on a pair of bar-stools, and quite obviously inebriated.

Ignis went into damage control mode, knowing Gladio would guard over the young men while he slipped gil into the appropriate hands to ensure the morning news reports wouldn't contain any stories about the Prince of Parties.

When Ignis returned to his compatriots he wore the mask of a man long-suffering and feeling entirely too old for this nonsense, despite his relative youth.

But when he saw how much fun Noct seemed to be having, he relented, and allowed a small smile to grace his lips.

And since the place was so crowded, it only made sense for him to perch on Gladio’s knee. Ignis wouldn’t want to selfishly hog a chair someone else might need, after all.

“Having fun, are we?” he asked the younger men.

“Hell yes!” Prompto enthused, taking a large drink from something that looked fruity and lethal. The gunslinger looked confused a moment and asked, “Why are you sitting on Gladio? Won’t you fall?”

“I’m quite secure, Prompto, I assure you. Gladio’s as hard as a rock.”

"The hell are you talking about?” Noct asked, swaying alarmingly on his stool. “Specs!”

Gladio reached out a steadying hand, his chuckle vibrating deliciously into the parts of Ignis’s body pressed to his.

“Specs,” Noct said again, his voice blurred, but earnest. “Ignis. You’re so awesome.”

It was a valiant effort, and Ignis took pride in the fact that he didn’t succumb to laughter.

“Thank you, Highness,” he said gravely.

“Why are you so amazing?” Noct asked wistfully, slumping against Prompto.

Ignis didn’t miss the way the blonde snaked an arm around Noctis’s waist.

Interesting.

“Years of training,” he answered his Prince wryly.

“And here you are taking care of me when Prom and I tried to give you guys some time to yourselves!” Noctis’s voice was approaching a wail, and Ignis wished he could find a way to defuse the situation.

“Be assured, Noct, Gladio and I appreciate your noble sacrifice. Perhaps we should adjourn back to the room now, and get some sleep?”

“Nooooo,” Prompto slurred, reaching out with his free hand to grasp Ignis’s shoulder. “Iggy. Ig-Ig. Igster. Ignis Sceinta…Seentia… uh, Mr. S. Please don’t take me away from this drink, I beg of you!”

While his hysterics were quite amusing, they were attracting entirely too much attention. Ignis stood, shooting a glance to Gladio that needed no interpretation.

“Okay, chucklefucks,” Gladio said. “Time for bed.” He picked up Prompto, slinging him over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

That left it to Ignis to corral Noctis. Delightful.

“Come now, Noct,” Ignis cajoled, easing Noctis off his stool and supporting most of his weight. “Let’s just follow Gladio and Prompto, shall we?”

“Speccy-specs,” Noctis sighed into Ignis’s ear. “Specsssssss.”

“Yes?”

“I think I like Prom.”

Ignis snorted, and deliberately misinterpreted. “I should hope so. He’s your best friend.”

“Not like that! Geez, Ignis, you’re supposed to be smarter than this.”

Perhaps if Noct weren’t so adorable as he drunkenly confessed something Ignis had suspected for months, he’d have been more offended by that statement.

“How then?”

Noct pressed even closer, and Ignis tried not to flinch at the way Noctis’s booze-soaked breath assaulted his senses. “I think he’s pretty.”

“I suppose he is an attractive young man,” Ignis said agreeably, trying to keep Noct moving in the general direction of their room. Six, how long could it take to walk the scant distance from the restaurant to their accommodations?

“He doesn’t like me, though,” Noct said mournfully. “He likes girls. Cindy. All the girls.”

Ignis saw the door to their room and nearly exalted aloud in praise to all the Astrals. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”

“Really?”

“Ask him about it. When you’re sober.” Ignis advised as he eased the door open. He saw Prompto already snoring, starfished on one of the beds. Gladio had propped himself up in the other, watching the door.

“Bedtime now, Highness,” Ignis murmured, shooting a look towards Gladio.

Gladio managed to shove Prompto far enough to one side of the bed that they were able to lay out Noctis beside him.

“Thanks, Specs. You’re the best,” Noctis managed before passing out.

Ignis drew a blanket over their young companions, before turning to Gladio with exasperation. 

“Only one hour. _One hour_. How much alcohol do you think they poisoned themselves with?”

“Enough that we ain’t gettin’ an early start tomorrow,” Gladio rumbled in amusement. “C’mon, Iggy. Let’s try and catch some sleep.”

Ignis sighed, removing his glasses and setting them aside before sliding off his shoes and climbing up on the bed. He snuggled against Gladio, and told him about Noctis’s drunken confession.

Gladio grinned, the white flash of his teeth barely discernible in the dim light they had left on for the boys’ inevitable night time trips to worship the porcelain god. “Not surprised. This’ll be interesting to watch play out.”

“Indeed,” Ignis yawned. “Good night, Gladiolus.”

“Night, Iggy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um... well... okay. That just happened. Please, your feedback gives me life!
> 
> I realize I stretched a bit for in-game dialogue, but, hey I did my best.
> 
> And yes, two chapters in one day, Happy New Year, FFXV fam! <3
> 
>  
> 
> OKAY I WAS TOLD TO ADD TO THIS NOTE THAT YOU CAN COME FLAIL AT ME ON TUMBLR UNDER THE SAME NAME, XYLIANNA. I LOVE TALKING TO PEOPLE WHO LOVE GLADNIS SO PLEASE DO IT. <3


	8. Push Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay buckle up fam, this chapter indulges my angst!kink pretty hardcore!
> 
> Send thank you notes to @calamityera for how smoothly this reads, because I couldn't have done it without her terribly insightful and helpful beta commentary. Thank you, beta-san! <3

Morning dawned brilliant and bright, the sunlight gently rousing Ignis to wakefulness as it bathed him in warmth. He couldn’t find it in him to be upset at forgetting to ensure all the blinds were drawn, though - even without the total clarity provided by his glasses, he could see it was a truly spectacular day outside.

“Gladio,” he whispered, rolling closer and snuggling tightly against his boyfriend. “Gladio, darling, are you awake?”

“I am now.” His lover’s voice was petulant, and heavy with sleep.

Simply adorable.

“Gladio,” Ignis murmured insistently, brushing soft kisses against his cheeks, his forehead.

“What?!”

Ignis winced. Perhaps he should’ve let Gladio sleep longer. “I’m going outside. The sunrise - what I’ve seen of it through the window - looks wondrous.” He smiled, even though Gladio wouldn’t see his loving expression, since his eyes were still firmly closed. “Come watch it with me? Or sleep, as you prefer.” Both suggestions were made in a steady voice, his calm timbre underscored with a loving lilt. While he would obviously welcome his beloved’s company, he wouldn’t be hurt if Gladio chose to catch a bit more sleep.

Carefully, Ignis extricated himself from those tattooed arms, stepping away from the bed and finding his glasses and shoes. A quick glance across the room confirmed that Noctis and Prompto still slumbered - and probably would for quite a while, Ignis thought ruefully. With the amount of alcohol those two had consumed,  they’d sleep away most the morning, and wake up wishing they hadn’t.

He left the room quietly, easing the door shut behind him with painstaking precision, ensuring there was only the softest of clicks in the wake of his departure.

A peaceful smile softened the lines of his face. In that moment, Ignis actually looked his age rather than his customary hardened expression, aged beyond his years from the rigors of his training, tension laid upon tension from the trials he - and his friends - had already undergone since leaving Insomnia.

For Ignis, they couldn’t reach Altissia soon enough. He wished nothing more than to see Noctis reunited with Lunafreya. He stalwartly refused to believe the reports of her death. Those same reports had reported Noct’s after all, and he knew first hand the veracity of those stories.

He felt a pang of sadness when he realized that whatever this… awareness… was that had sprung up between Noctis and Prompto would certainly have to cease the moment they crossed the borders into Accordo’s capital. It simply wouldn’t do for Noct to be seen stepping out behind his intended’s back.

However, while Ignis didn’t know Lunafreya personally, he suspected that as one also being thrust into a political marriage with little regard for her personal needs or desires, she might be amenable to arrangements being made that would ensure both Noct and herself could still love as they willed.

Such thoughts were far too heavy for such a beautiful sunrise, though, so Ignis forced his mind to quiet and took in the breathtaking panorama of the light scintillating on the gently lapping waves. He walked leisurely down the wooden walkway between the resort and the mainland, taking in the different views afforded him as he progressed. It was after he’d made it to land, turned about, and started back towards the hotel that he spied a most familiar, welcome figure walking towards him.

Astrals above and below, would he _ever_ tire of that sight?

Ignis drank in the vision of Gladio moving in his direction with undisguised wonder, savoring the way his lover strode so confidently. He still caught himself amazed by his good-fortune, a bit awestruck that a person like Gladiolus Amicitia could want him as sincerely as he craved the other man.

He thought he had known what love was. After all, he’d read about it.

But nothing had prepared him for the way Gladio took residence in his heart. His soul.

Ignis knew he’d never be the same. He was a changed man the moment Gladio had accepted his offer to meet for coffee. His entire life was thrown gleefully askew, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Six grant he never had to pass a single day parted from Gladio’s side. He wanted to start each day looking at that scarred face. End each night lost in each other’s eyes.

Blinking back the beginnings of tears - Ramuh save him, he was maudlin this morning - he smiled happily as Gladio met him halfway down the pier.

“Sorry, took me a few minutes to wake up,” Gladio apologized, scrubbing a hand over the back of his head self-consciously.

“You owe me no apologies, Gladio. I’m just happy you’re here now,” Ignis replied easily, verdant gaze shining with unabashed joy.

It was the Gods’ honest truth.

Gladio’s response was to sling an arm around Ignis’s waist, drawing him close and resting his chin on the crown of his head.

Ignis leaned against Gladio’s muscled frame, taking comfort in the outward expression of a fierce strength he knew they both shared, hitching his fingers on one of his lover’s belt-loops.

He clung to Gladio not because he needed to, but because he wanted to.

He wanted to linger in the illusion that they were nothing more than two young people in love, just a while longer before continuing their quest. And Galdin Quay was certainly well suited to that particular charade.

“I need to talk to you,” Gladio said a bit abruptly, infringing on Ignis’s revery. The tactician’s keen mind recovered with alacrity, however, and he tipped his head back to meet that amber gaze with his own.

He didn’t speak. He knew his eyes would be eloquent enough that words weren’t required.

“Noct and I talked while he fished. Well,” Gladio barked a short laugh, “While he pretended to fish.”

Ignis waited patiently, though unease uncoiled to fill his gut.

“He told me he was afraid we wouldn’t have time for him anymore. Apparently he needed to process the fact we’re dating, and forgot that while it’s new to him, it’s been goin’ on for years.”

“We’ve always put Noctis first,” Ignis said, voice breathy, his heart racing as he considered the million different ways he’d perhaps unintentionally slighted Noct due to his love for Gladio. He felt Gladio’s arm hold him tighter, and was grateful for the grounding sensation his lover provided.

“We have,” Gladio agreed tersely. “We fucking swore to put him first. It ain’t always been easy, but I think we’ve done a fucking good job at it.”

“Indeed.” Ignis heard Gladio’s voice, his own voice, as if he was miles away, yet somehow echoing loudly in his ears. He recognized he was in the early stages of his second panic attack this week and inwardly cursed himself for being so deplorably _weak_.

“Iggy,” Gladio said chidingly. At least, that’s how Ignis took his tone. It was likely his boyfriend was just trying to snap him free from his introspection.

Ignis heaved a heavy, dramatic sigh. He was well aware that he was reacting in a very predictable, very over-the-top manner, but he couldn’t bring himself to care terribly much.

What he was taking from Gladio’s abridged version of his conversation with their liege was that Ignis had failed. Ignis had made a mistake by daring to embark on a personal relationship, and now his charge was suffering as a direct result. Gods, how could he have been so selfish? So unthinking?

“ _Iggy!_ ” Gladio’s voice was like a slap in face, as startling as it was necessary.

Ignis inhaled deeply, and exhaled with a count of four. He repeated the exercise several times, until he was confident his eyes held no self-recrimination. “Sorry, love.”

Gladio waved away his apology, and grinned. “Breakfast?”

Ignis smiled back. “Yes, let’s.”

They walked hand in hand down the pier and into Coctura’s restaurant. Even at this early hour, it was bustling, with good reason - Coctura was a fantastic cook. Ignis treasured the opportunity he’d enjoyed to share recipes with the brilliant woman.

Ignis enjoyed the simple breakfast with his partner. The two men engaged in idle conversation, nothing more serious than debating the colors of the sunlight reflecting off the waves or comments on the amount of pepper in the eggs.

“Suppose we should check on the dorks,” Gladio said eventually, after they’d long since finished their repast and just been idling away the minutes with clasped hands, heady eye-contact, and scant words.

“Quite right,” Ignis affirmed, rising from his chair with an easy grace.

The two walked the short distance from the restaurant to the hotel and Ignis swiped his keycard to gain entrance.

When he felt Gladio’s solid bulk crash into his back, Ignis realized he’d stopped in his tracks.

Oh. _Astrals_.

What was it Noct said at times like this? Expressing a need for brain bleach?

Ignis rapidly backed out of the room, letting the door fall locked behind him, and spun to face Gladio with a frantic look on his face.

“Um… Iggy?”

“You recall last night, the way that our friends were… hanging all over each other?” Ignis said dryly, barely managing to rein in the impulse to clean his glasses.

“…..yeah?”

“Well,” Ignis couldn’t resist the urge any longer. He removed his glasses and scrubbed at the lenses, as if that could possibly erase the images seared indelibly into his mind.

Gladio quirked a brow at him, and Ignis realized he’d been silent longer than intended.

“It seems that our friends have come to an… understanding.”

“Just spit it out, Iggy.”

And so he did.

Ignis’s brief glance into the room showed him more than he ever wished to know about his charge and his charge’s best friend.

The images came to him in scattered staccato form. Noctis’s pale flesh completely exposed to his verdant gaze, clothes in a heap at the foot of the bed. Prompto’s freckled skin similarly available to his sight, and Ignis had the answer to if the freckles continued down his entire body (they did).

He saw Prompto’s mouth around Noct’s dick, and noted the way Noctis’s eyes rolled back in his head as he cried out to the Astrals in delight. He saw the sly way Prompto’s violet eyes lit up as he worked lips and tongue over Noct’s cock, clearly delighting in every sound, every twitch he was able to draw out of the reticent Prince.

Ignis’s well-honed eyes saw the way Noct’s own were eclipsed by pupils blown-out with lust, the barest hint of blue edging the darkness. He heard his charge begging Prompto to _never_ stop, Gods, never stop, but give me more, please Prom, _more_.

The Royal Advisor told all this to the Prince’s Shield with admirable calm.

And then he walked over to bar at Coctura’s establishment, and requested a scotch. Double. Neat.

Six take him, he didn’t care if it was just barely approaching midday.

Despite his assumptions that this was the direction his younger friends were stumbling towards, he didn’t need to see it first hand.

Ignis had to admit, though. He’d been hoping for commiseration from Gladio. Not this annoying burst of laughter.

“Did we really expect anything else after last night?” Gladio said disbelievingly when he saw the way Ignis was glaring at him.

“I had hoped Noct might behave with more… decorum,” Ignis managed at last.

“Oh, so we’ve never forgotten to lock a door in the heat of the moment?” Gladio’s smirk was all too knowing, and Ignis didn’t appreciate that knowledge. Not one bit.

His blush was hot and crimson, and flooded his pale cheeks with memories.

“Yes, well,” Ignis stammered, adjusting his glasses.

Gladio’s smirk stayed put. “How long should we give ‘em? What should we do to pass time?”

Ignis felt his lips cant in an answering smirk, and he drawled his response. “It simply wouldn’t be polite for us to disturb them too soon. Perhaps we should check on the Regalia in the interim.”

“Good idea,” Gladio said agreeably. “Maybe we should also talk about how you called me ‘sir’ last night, in direct opposition to the rules we’ve set in place.”

Ignis almost tripped, his step faltered so dramatically. So Gladio _had_ noticed. Of _course_ he had. Drat the man. Bless the man.

He decided that silence was the best response, unless Gladio prompted him to speak.

Which of course, he did.

“Why’d you break protocol?” His amber eyes seemed lazy, but Ignis knew better.

“I’m sorry, Gladio,” he said. “I got caught up in the moment. I…forgot.”

“Forgot.” Gladio’s voice was rife with disbelief.

Ignis felt his face heat with a blush, and if he could’ve willed it to fade, he would have, but alas, even he hadn’t mastered that level of self-control.

“I was a bit busy,” he snapped, unwontedly cross, brain still reeling from the vision of Noctis and Prompto locked together in bliss. “What with the knives and the crop.”

“That’s no excuse.” Gladio’s voice was smug, and held a dark promise in those scant words.

Ignis wasn’t sure if he should feel irritated, or aroused. “I’ve said that I’m sorry. What more do you wish of me?” He snapped, not in the mood for these guessing games.

“Everything,” Gladio growled, turning to face Ignis directly, his eyes burning with resolve. “And more.”

Ignis shuddered. He couldn’t help it. He felt the vibration start at his head and continue to tremble down all the way to his feet.

The two men locked eyes for a long moment, spring-green and autumn-gold meshed in perfect accord, saying so much more than any words could ever hope to convey.

Ignis stood tall and proud, raising his chin. “You’ve already claimed everything I am. But if there’s aught you haven’t taken -  some iota of self I’ve held on to - please, my love, take it all.” He smiled, but his eyes were dark with longing. “I’ve nothing that isn’t yours. Not for a long time.”

“Fuck,” Gladio breathed the expletive like a prayer, as he drew Ignis close to him. “I’ve taken everything you’ve given me, Iggy,  but I still want more. I don’t think I’ll ever stop wanting more.”

“Good,” Ignis said simply, as he laid his head against Gladio’s broad chest.

“So… checking the Regalia?” Gladio gasped the words between fervent kisses.

“Quite,” Ignis tried to say, but the word was lost in a moan when Gladio’s lips cleaved to his.

 

Gladio wasn’t certain which was hotter: Ignis’s inability to form coherent sentences, or the way the blush painted crimson over porcelain skin all the way from his cheeks, down beneath his high-collared coeurl-print dress shirt.

He dodged through the growing mid-morning crowd impatiently, herding Iggy towards the Regalia. It wasn’t ideal, but since their room was quite occupied at the moment, at least it would afford them some semblance of privacy.

When they reached the car, Gladio didn’t even try to pretend he had any goal in mind beyond getting Ignis into the fucking vehicle.

As Gladio clambered into the car behind Ignis, moving over him, he saw his lover grin up at him cheekily. “This is certainly… close quarters.”

“I’ve squeezed through tighter,” Gladio said, his timbre rich with meaning. “You just have to push through.”

“Is that so,” Ignis murmured, verdant gaze blurred with ill-concealed desire. “Show me, then.”

“Huh?” Gladio blinked in genuine confusion.

“Push through, darling,” Ignis drawled, carding a hand through Gladio’s messy hair. “Push through and take us to the other side.”

Gladio didn’t need to be told twice.

He melded his lips to Ignis’s in a heated kiss, more teeth than lips, not that Iggy was complaining at the sharpness of the gesture.

When Ignis’s hands rose to twine fingers in his thick brown hair, it was all the encouragement Gladio could have asked for.

He poured himself into that kiss, wishing Ignis could feel half the love Gladio had for him in that moment. Words paled, and actions were insufficient.

“Gladio,” Ignis released his name on a breath, and Gladio thought there had never been a lovelier sound.

“Need you,” he managed, large hands already moving to strip them both of their clothing, even as he blessed the Astrals for the Regalia’s tinted windows.

“Then _take_ me,” Ignis hissed out sharply, hands bracketing Gladio’s face as he stole another heated kiss, the coppery tang of blood a stark counterpoint to the sweetness of lips. 

Gladio rasped a quiet chuckle when he realized Ignis had bitten his own lip, so impatient was his lover for the feel of Gladio’s cock filling him.

Well, with an invitation like that…

Gladio managed at long last to divest them of the last of their clothing, pants tangled around their ankles since he was too rushed to remove their shoes. It didn’t matter. They would make do.

He curled a hand around Ignis’s half-hard cock and reveled in the other man’s gasp, pumping his fist until he felt the erection fully bloom, aching and ready.

But he wasn’t done.

His other hand reached below Ignis’s weeping cock and began to tease his entrance open with careful fingers. In the absence of lube, he paused intermittently to lick his fingers, or slick them with the pre-come beading at the tip of Ignis’s shaft.

Both would serve. They didn’t need much.

Ignis was fucking _made_ to take his cock.

“Gladio,” Ignis growled, fisting a hand a the base of his skull. “Enough teasing. Fuck me already.”

Gladio’s arousal ratcheted exponentially higher, hearing his beloved utter such rare, foul words.

Since Gladio was a gentleman, and not one to keep his lover waiting, he acceded to Ignis’s request with eager haste, lining up the head of his cock with Ignis’s entrance and pushing in with one hard thrust.

He saw the way Ignis’s jade eyes, irises eclipsed by pupils until a scant ring of green remained, shot wide at the intrusion. Gladio fucking loved the way that after a moment of shock, that mossy visage darkened with lust, a silent demand screamed out by the way those eyes gleamed, the way his lips twisted around the shape of Gladio’s name.

Gladio pounded into Ignis with everything he had, the best he could given the cramped quarters of the Regalia. He wrapped one hand around Ignis’s weeping cock, desperately trying to match the rhythm of their bodies moving against each other, wanting Ignis to feel everything he was feeling and knowing it was fucking impossible.

Nothing could compare to the feel of Ignis’ tight heat around his cock. _Nothing_.

It didn’t take long, and their voices were raised in a lascivious duet, crying each other’s names, beseeching the Six, incoherently sounding out in ecstasy.

Gladio thought nothing could ever compare to the magic of this moment. He gathered Ignis tightly against himself, squeezing the smaller man in a warm embrace, wanting to meld them together as completely as humanly possible.

“Gladio,” Ignis gasped. “Air!”

“Oops,” Gladio blushed and relaxed his hold a fraction. “Sorry, Iggy.”

Ignis merely smiled, reaching up to tuck an errant strand of brown behind Gladio’s ear.

After several long moments that passed all too quickly, Gladio spoke. “Suppose we should check on _them_.”

“Indeed,” Ignis agreed. “I imagine we’ve given them enough time to, well..” he trailed off into a meaningful chuckle. “Pull themselves together.”

“Noct’s probably asleep,” Gladio said warningly.

“Undoubtedly,” Ignis rejoined tartly. “If we have to carry him to the car, then carry him we shall. But we really must continue. I’m afraid we’ve dallied too long.” Ignis’s voice painted a portrait of mingled longing and self-flagellation.

“Iggy…” Gladio began, but trailed off. He couldn’t really argue. These past few days had been incredibly self-indulgent, a distraction from their quest.

And he didn’t regret them in the slightest.

They walked back toward the hotel a bit solemnly, though the tight clasp of their hands belied the sedate nature of their stroll.

When they reached the room, this time, Ignis opted to knock rather than use his key-card.

Prompto answered the door quickly, stepping out and shutting it behind him.

“Noct’s sleeping,” he explained, his freckles standing out in stark relief against the crimson backdrop of his blush.

“Then we must needs wake him,” Ignis stated unequivocally. “Altissia awaits.”

Prompto frowned,but didn’t stop Ignis and Gladio from barging into the hotel room.

“Hey,” Gladio said loudly, reaching out to punch Noct’s shoulder. “Wakey-wakey time, Princess.”

“Urgh,” Noctis moaned, turning over and burying his face in the pillows.

“Noct,” Ignis’s voice may have been gentler than his boyfriend’s, but he was no less insistent. “We really must be going.”

“Fine,” Noctis grumbled, pushing himself upright and sitting on the edge of the bed. “At least I can sleep in the car.”

“Indeed,” Ignis soothed the crabby Prince as he began to gather up their belongings from where they’d been strewed about the hotel room. “Gladio, get them settled while I pay the bill?”

“You got it,” Gladio confirmed as he attempted to herd the chucklefucks out to the Regalia.

It seemed their idyll had ended. Gladio had mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was eager to get back to it, to find Noct’s Royal Arms and keep taking the necessary steps to reclaim Insomnia. Gladio knew it would all start with their fated stop in Altissia, where Noctis was expected to rejoin with the Oracle to transition from their betrothal to the bonds of matrimony.

On the other hand… these few days of respite weren’t nearly enough. It could never be enough.

He had a duty, bred into him over countless generations, and he would fulfill it without complaint. But, sometimes…

Sometimes…

Sometimes he wished he was just Gladio, and not the Shield. That Ignis was Iggy, and not the Royal Chamberlain.

Sometimes he wished they could just live, and love, and be happy.

But, if wishes were wings, they’d all fly. Or so one of the old nurses in the creche used to mumble at the children when Gladio was young enough to stay there during the days.

All too soon Ignis was walking over to join them, climbing into the driver’s seat with a practiced ease. Gladio and the other two men had already taken their customary seats, and settled in for the ride.

It would take at least a few days of driving nonstop to reach Altissia. Since they’d have to make stops - to refuel, to eat, to give Ignis a break from driving - Gladio was guessing they’d hit Altissia by the end of the week.

All too soon… and not nearly soon enough.

The Lucian people were counting on them, after all. And Noct joining with Luna would be a bold move in their favor, something to boost morale in the fight against the Empire.

Besides, Gladio mused self-indulgently. Altissia was supposed to be the most romantic city on all Eos. Surely they could spare a few hours to allow him to show Ignis the night of his life. First, he’d take him on a romantic gondola ride. Then, he’d take him to a dinner he didn’t have to cook. And after they’d eaten their fill, well…

Gladio didn’t need to script a play-by-play. He knew they’d find their way, however the mood struck.

For the time being, he pulled out his novel, the cover careworn and creased from use. Gladio would lose himself in the pages, not emerging from the story until they took a rest stop, continuing in that vein until at last they reached Altissia.

 

Noctis shifted on the seat, slanting a cautious sidelong gaze towards Gladio. His Shield appeared to be reading, but he knew appearances could be deceiving.

That was one of the things he liked best about Prompto: he didn’t think his best friend had a deceptive bone in his body. With Prom, what you saw was what you got. Sure, Gladio carried himself in much the same manner, but the older man had worn so many masks and uniforms for so long that his subterfuge was unintentional.

Prompto had no such artifices. He was pure, open, honest.

He was _beautiful_.

Noctis felt his face heat with a blush, and couldn’t bring himself to care. No one was looking at him, anyway.

He thought back to those stolen moments at the hotel, and his lips curved in a secret smile. No matter what the future held, Noct was grateful he had spoken up - grateful Prompto had shared his feelings - grateful they had seized the moment and enjoyed it with everything they had.

Who knew when they’d have another chance, on the road to Noct’s wedding?

The Prince of Lucis tried his best to contain the heavy sigh that boiled up inside him at that thought, but he failed miserably, as demonstrated by Gladio’s sharp look, by the way Ignis locked eyes with him in the rear-view mirror.

Noctis ignored them both and stared out his window.

Altissia was a few days away.

He would make damn sure to enjoy those days with Prom, and he didn’t care if Ignis and Gladio knew it.

 

In the front passenger seat of the car, Prompto pretended to be looking through the viewfinder of his camera, on his endless quest for the perfect shot.

In truth, he couldn’t see anything but the way Noct’s eyes went indistinct, how his lips shaped Prompto’s name at the apex of his pleasure.

Prompto couldn’t regret what they’d done that morning. He’d loved Nocits for too long to be ungrateful for what he could get. But that didn’t mean he was happy about the fact that every minute brought them closer to _fucking Altissia_. To Noct’s wedding day.

No. Prompto didn’t like that _one bit_.

But, he was part of Noctis's Crownsguard. He would stay by his beloved Prince's side, and Prompto truly believed he would be thrilled by any joy Noctis could find in his arranged marriage.

Nothing made Prompto happier, after all, than seeing Noct happy.

It didn't hurt that Lunafreya was such a kind-hearted, caring individual. Prompto knew that she'd take good care of his best friend. The Oracle would support him as he grew into the king that Lucis needed him to be.

And Prompto would be there in the background, ready to defend the Prince or calm his best friend with a joke as the moment warranted.

 _He would be there_.

Prompto's face softened into a genuine smile that lit up those exquisite violet-blue eyes, and he was no longer faking an interest in the passing scenery. He snapped several photographs that he couldn't wait to share with Noct - and Gladio, and Iggy - later.

 

Ignis’s hands were curled tautly around the steering wheel as he expertly maneuvered the car ever onward.

Outwardly, he gave no hint that he felt the growing tension that filled the car. But his gut was tight with tension, and he knew his knuckles were white beneath the leather of his gloves, he was grasping the wheel with such unnecessary force.

As the minutes ticked away, Ignis began to calm.  When Prompto whipped out his camera, he smiled, glad that his young friend was feeling recovered enough from his hangover to indulge in his passion.  Ignis’s serenity grew when he saw Gladio lose himself in his book. And he couldn’t curtail the quiet laugh when he noticed Noct had fallen fast asleep, slumped inelegantly against Gladio’s bulk.

He couldn’t calm his ruminations, though. Ignis had been trained for too many years to consider every possible outcome, to prepare strategies to counter every possible scenario.

Ignis wasn’t certain why, but something… something deep inside told him that after Altissia, nothing would ever be the same.

To be fair, that was only logical. Noctis marrying the Oracle would impact all their lives, expand all their duties to encompass protecting the Lady Lunafreya alongside their Prince.

Yes, things would change when they reached Altissia. But, Ignis had trained all his life to be ready for all possible outcomes. He could adjust to the addition of a Princess-consort with ease, he imagined.

If a small, selfish voice deep in his heart slyly suggested that a bride would keep the Prince’s attention, would give him more time for Gladio, well… at the end of the day Ignis was only, gloriously, human.

Who could fault him for wanting time with the man he loved?

He would do his duty. He had sworn an oath, and it would take far more than the miraculous love he’d found with Gladiolus to make him forsake it.

But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t dream of brighter days. Hope for a time when Noctis had reclaimed his throne, and they could all live - and love - in peace.

With those idealistic thoughts dancing in his daydreams, Ignis drove ever onward, a small smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Discretion. But, because I'm me, I already have a prequel and sequel planned. Stay tuned. <3
> 
> When I originally thought up this fic, it was going to be pure smut, no plot. MY THINGS CHANGED. Noct/Prom were going to 'discover' them in the last chapter, so I enjoyed the role-reversal from what I had planned.
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments if you feel so moved, and come flail at me on Tumblr under the same username, Xylianna. :D
> 
> these are in no particular order, but I wanted to share some of the songs that I used to help fuel this story. I'm sure you can match up which scenes they go with, ha!
> 
> Vivir Sin Aire - Mana  
> Despacito - Luis Fonsi ft. Daddy Yankee  
> Skin - Rihanna  
> When The World Ends - Dave Matthews Band  
> Mind - Skrillex & Diplo ft. Kai  
> Closer - Nine Inch Nails  
> Seduces Me - Celine Dion  
> Broken - Seether ft. Amy Lee  
> Backstage - NEFFEX (per my beta's recommendation)  
> Push - Madonna  
> Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga

**Author's Note:**

> I can't be the only one who takes almost all of Gladio's battle dialogue in the dirtiest way possible, can I?
> 
> ... I am? Oops.
> 
> Kudos and comments are my Ebony and Cup Noodles! <3


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